NATO has launched a new mission to increase surveillance of ships in the Baltic Sea after critical undersea cables were damaged or cut last year.
NATO chief Mark Rutte said the mission, dubbed “Baltic Sentry,” would involve multiple patrol planes, warships and drones.
He announced this at the summit in Helsinki, which was attended by all NATO countries located on the Baltic Sea – Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.
Although Russia was not directly blamed for the cable damage, Rutte said NATO would step up surveillance of Moscow’s “shadow fleet” – ships without clear ownership used to transport embargoed oil products.
Tensions between NATO countries and Russia have been rising relentlessly since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“There is cause for serious concern” about infrastructure damage, Rutte said. He added that NATO will respond strongly to such accidents, with a greater number of boardings on suspicious vessels and, if necessary, their seizure.
He declined to share more details about the number of assets that will participate in the Baltic Sentry initiative, saying it could change regularly and he did not want to “make the enemy any wiser than he already is.”
The undersea infrastructure is crucial not only for the supply of electricity but also because more than 95% of internet traffic is provided via undersea cables, Rutte said, adding that “1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) of cables guarantee an estimated value of $10 trillion financial transactions every day”.
In a post on X, he said NATO would do “whatever is necessary to ensure the safety and security of our critical infrastructure and everything we hold dear.”
In recent months, there has been an increase in unexplained damage to underwater infrastructure in the Baltic.
The latest accident on the submarine infrastructure saw be cut the electric cable running between Finland and Estonia at the end of December.
Finnish coast guard crews boarded the Eagle S oil tanker – flying the Cook Islands flag – and steered it into Finnish waters, while Estonia deployed a patrol vessel to protect its undersea power cable.
On Monday, Risto Lohi of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation told Reuters that the Eagle S was threatening to cut another power cable and a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia at the time it was seized.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in December that damage to undersea infrastructure had become “so frequent” that they cast doubt on the idea that damage could be considered “accidental” or “just poor seamanship”.
Tsahkna did not directly accuse Russia. Nor did Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who said on Sunday that while Sweden does not jump to conclusions or “accuse anyone of sabotage without a strong reason,” it is also “not naive.”
“The security situation and the fact that strange things are happening again and again in the Baltic Sea also lead us to believe that hostile intentions cannot be ruled out.”
“There is little evidence that a ship would accidentally and without noticing it … without understanding that it could cause damage,” he said.