NATO to Deploy Up to Ten Ships to Protect Critical Baltic Sea Infrastructure

NATO will begin protecting critical facilities in the Baltic Sea with up to ten ships at the end of this week, Yle has reported.

NATO will deploy ships that are currently serving in the Baltic Sea, as well as ships that will be sent directly by NATO countries. In total, there will be about ten of them and they will remain at sea until April. The NATO ships will be deployed close to energy and data cables and will act as a deterrent. 

The Gulf of Finland will also continue to be guarded by Finnish and Estonian ships.

NATO decided to increase its presence in the Baltic Sea on 30 December at the request of Finland and Estonia. The authorities of these countries suspect that on 25 December, the Eagle S tanker damaged the Estlink 2 cable between Finland and Estonia, as well as four telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland, with its anchor. They believe that the tanker is part of Russia's ‘shadow fleet’ and helps to avoid sanctions imposed by Western countries.

The day before, on 7 January, a special ship of the Swedish Navy, HMS Belos, found and raised an anchor belonging to the oil tanker Eagle S, which is suspected of damaging submarine cables in the Gulf of Finland. The Finnish authorities have taken possession of the anchor and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will begin analysing it. The NBI suspects that the anchor was used to sever a power cable between Finland and Estonia and damage four telecommunications cables. Eight crew members of the Russian vessel are suspected of committing sabotage and interfering with telecommunications.