Fears Russia has planted mines in Britain’s internet and power cables after Putin ordered a gas pipeline attack.

It has been reported that URGENT checks of underwater power supplies and internet cables have been ordered amid fears Russians have sabotaged them.

The move comes after Vladimir Putin is suspected of ordering an attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, sparking fears Britain is “deeply vulnerable” to underwater attacks by Russia.

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The cuts to undersea internet cables could not only throw Britain into chaos, but cripple global banking and wipe out trillions of economies.

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has already ordered a Type 23 frigate and the survey ship HMS Enterprise to deal with the potential threats.

He acted after explosions on Baltic gas pipelines, which are being investigated by Danish authorities but caught Western intelligence by surprise.

The Royal Navy has now been ordered to carry out precautionary inspections of key pipes and cables in case Russia has already placed mines on them that have been removed.

A government told the Daily Mail the Danish probe is being closely monitored to see if it is pointing the finger at Russia and Vladimir

“But it also begs the question of how it was done,” the source said.

“Was it a direct attack? Or were mines planted and remotely detonated some time ago?

“If it’s the latter, then it raises questions about where else mines might have been placed.”

“We know that there has been suspicious Russian submarine activity around our underwater infrastructure for years.

“So we have to go and see. It’s troubling because we know that Putin doesn’t conform to conventional norms.”

Security experts have claimed that an elite group of divers from a shadowy Russian special forces unit could be behind the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

Spetsnaz combat swimmers – a secret branch of the Russian military – and underwater drones could have been used to blow up the strategically important supply route.

Another likely cause, according to a British military source, is that Russian special forces may have discreetly laid mines from a cloaked merchant ship and detonated them days or weeks later.

Enterprise uses sonar and mini-submarine drones to scan the seabed for signs of interference such as mines and monitors on cables and pipes.

The attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines caused millions of cubic meters of methane to bubble to the sea surface and drove up gas prices.

Norway has also stepped up security after drones threatened its offshore gas platforms.

Mr Wallace refused to explicitly blame Russia for the Nord Stream blasts.

But he said Russian spy ships are routinely seen near our critical national infrastructure.

He said: “We often see suspicious activity by Russian spy ships around our cables and pipelines.

“We are all deeply vulnerable because we are so dependent on our internet cables and pipelines in the North Sea oil fields.”

He also pledged to rush through the purchase of two ocean survey ships, including a special-purpose “sea-bottom warfare” ship.

Tyrant Putin has accused the US of carrying out the attacks.

In January, the Chief of Defense Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, said there had been a “phenomenal increase in Russian submarine and underwater activity” over the past 20 years.