[citrin_ru]

I doubt Russian nuclear ice breakers have naval escort. Until recently they operated within the coverage of on-shore long range SAM systems (but most of these SAM systems were moved elsewhere recently e.g. to protect oil refineries so Northern Sea Route is no longer protected).

[joshuanapoli]

I don’t think that anyone would want to steal an icebreaker, but a datacenter full of valuable equipment and interesting information is a more likely target.

[Fluorescence]

Would a marine raid by ship be lower risk than a smash and grab by panel-van on land?

I imagine land is a lower bar to entry, accessible to a much larger criminal base, but security response times and road surveillance is tough.

I'm too much of a land-lubber to know how easy it is vanish from a coastal crime scene by ship. The sea... nowhere to hide but very big. Can satellites track you these days? If wanting to nab a container or two that's a big ship. Not much you could put in a minisub or sub-surface thing. A James Bond villain could cut the supports and drag the whole thing to the hollowed out mountain of their island lair.

I need Michael Mann to make "Heat but on a boat" to educate me.