SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
NATO launches Baltic Sea patrols after suspected cable sabotage
Helsinki, Jan 14 (AFP) Jan 14, 2025
The NATO military alliance said Tuesday it would launch a Baltic Sea monitoring mission following the suspected sabotage of undersea cables in recent months.

Several telecom and power cables have been severed with experts and politicians accusing Russia of orchestrating a hybrid war against the West as the two sides square off over Ukraine.

The "Baltic Sentry" mission would involve "frigates and maritime patrol aircraft" among other assets, NATO chief Mark Rutte said at a regional meeting in Finland's capital Helsinki on Tuesday.

But he declined to give details on the number of vessels "because that might differ from one week to another" and he did not want to make "the enemy any wiser than he or she is already".

NATO was also tight-lipped on the duration, saying in a statement the operation would continue "for an undisclosed amount of time".

The suspected sabotage has been blamed on a "shadow fleet" of vessels -- often ageing and operating under opaque ownership -- that carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products, embargoed since the invasion of Ukraine.

"Investigations of all of these cases are still ongoing, but there is reason for grave concern," Rutte said.

He said protecting undersea infrastructure was of "utmost importance" not only for energy supplies but also for internet traffic.


- 'Strategic signal' -


Leaders of NATO's Baltic countries said in a statement after the Helsinki meeting that the shadow fleet "poses a particular threat to the maritime and environmental security in the Baltic Sea region and globally".

They said the fleet "significantly supports funding of Russia's illegal war of aggression against Ukraine".

Finland's President Alexander Stubb said foreign ministries from the Baltic Sea NATO states would set up a group of legal experts to assess what they could do without affecting freedom of navigation.

NATO said in late December it would increase its presence in the region but had not announced an operation.

Iro Sarkka, a researcher from the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, told AFP that NATO had been pushed into action by the Russian shadow fleet.

A comprehensive operation would serve as a "deterrent and a strategic signal" that NATO was prepared to act, according to Sarkka.

- Repeated incidents -


Tensions have mounted around the Baltic Sea since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe in September 2022, the cause of which has yet to be determined.

In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.

Two telecom cables in Swedish waters were severed on November 17-18 last year.

And weeks later, on December 25, the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged.

Investigators suspect the cables were damaged by the anchor of the Eagle S, a Cook Island-flagged oil tanker believed to be part of the "shadow fleet".

Finnish police seized the Eagle S on December 28 as part of a criminal investigation.

Finnish authorities last week deemed the ship unseaworthy, barred it from sailing and have banned eight crew members from leaving the country while police carry out a probe.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Russian space chief to meet NASA head for first time in eight years
BlackSky to supply satellite imagery and analytics for Latin American security operations
Cascade raises 59M to develop full stack satellite communications platform

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Palantir, the AI giant that preaches US dominance
China and US wrap first day of trade talks
'Food on table' outweighs health risks for Philippine e-waste dismantlers

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
North Korea warns US against pushing it to give up nukes
Iran vows stronger response if attacked again by US, Israel
Ukraine says Russian attacks targeted western city, home to airfield

24/7 News Coverage
BAE Systems completes delivery of NOAA and NASA space weather satellites for fall launch
Building blocks of life found in distant star system suggest origins in interstellar space
Deep-sea fish confirmed as a significant source of ocean carbonate



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.