You will shortly be re-directed to the publisher's website
The US-led military bloc has cited the need to protect undersea infrastructure after ‘possible’ sabotage in the area
NATO announced on Tuesday that it will increase its Baltic Sea presence by launching a new mission, under the pretext of protecting undersea infrastructure, following a string of disruptions and damage to cables running between bloc member states.
Russia perceives the Baltic Sea as a strategic area for its naval operations and energy exports.
Announcing operation ‘Baltic Sentry’ the US-led military bloc’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte, revealed the presence will involve frigates, maritime patrol aircraft and a “small fleet of naval drones,” that are expected to provide “enhanced surveillance and deterrence.”
The incidents have been linked to a Chinese ship, the Yi Peng 3, which has been accused of dragging its anchor and severing cables on the seabed. EU investigators were permitted to board the vessel, and China has said it will cooperate with the ongoing probe.
The most recent incident occurred late in December, with a supposedly Russia-linked oil tanker, the Eagle S, allegedly damaging the EstLink 2 power cable, which connects Finland and Estonia. In the absence of concrete proof, officials have stopped short of directly implicating Moscow. The vessel was boarded and seized by Finnish police, with investigators claiming the ship was missing one of her anchors.
“Across the alliance, we have seen elements of a campaign to destabilize our societies through cyberattacks, assassination attempts and sabotage, including possible sabotage of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea,” Rutte told reporters in Helsinki after NATO’s Summit of Baltic Sea Allies on Tuesday. The gathering brought together leaders from Finland, Poland, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Damage to undersea infrastructure is relatively common, with approximately 200 cable faults reported annually, according to the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC).
The majority of these incidents are attributed to human activities such as accidental dragging of anchors over subsea cables, or during fishing activities where heavy nets or equipment are dragged along the seafloor.
NATO’s announcement constitutes the latest uptick in the bloc’s military activities on its eastern flank, which have been steadily expanding over the past few years under the pretext of an alleged Russian threat.
NATO members had already been regularly conducting naval drills in the region, as well as so-called air-policing missions, which routinely involve fighter-jet flyovers close to Russia’s borders that have repeatedly resulted in run-ins with the country’s air force.
The Baltic Sea became an “internal lake of NATO” after Finland and Sweden joined the alliance. That expansion left Russia controlling only a small portion of the coastline—approximately 7%—with the Kaliningrad exclave and parts of the St. Petersburg area being its main points of access.
