NATO launched the ‘Baltic Sentry’ mission to protect submarine cables
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 include additional surveillance aircraft, warships and drones.
It was announced at a summit in Helsinki attended by all NATO countries in the Baltic Sea – Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.
While Russia was not directly implicated in the cable damage, Rutt said NATO would step up its monitoring of Moscow’s “shadow ships” — unlicensed vessels used to transport embargoed oil products.
In the year
“There is reason to be very concerned” about damage to infrastructure, Ruth said. He added that NATO would respond strongly to such threats with more boarding and, if necessary, seizure of suspected vessels.
He declined to give more details about the number of assets involved in the Baltic Sentry initiative because it could change regularly and he did not want to make “the enemy smarter than he or she is.”
Submarine infrastructure is not only important for electricity supply, but also because more than 95% of Internet traffic is carried by undersea cables, Ms. Root said. Daily Transactions”.
In a post on X, he said that NATO would do “to ensure the safety and security of our critical infrastructure and all the things we hold dear”.
In recent months, there has been untold damage to the Baltic’s maritime infrastructure.
The latest disaster in the marine infrastructure saw The power line between Finland and Estonia will be cut At the end of December.
Finnish coast guard crews boarded the Kok Islands-flagged oil tanker Eagle S and towed it into Finnish waters, while Estonia deployed a patrol vessel to protect the submarine power cable.
On Monday, Risto Lohi of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation told Reuters that Eagle S was threatening to cut a second power line and a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia when it was seized.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in December that damage to submarine infrastructure was “so frequent” that it cast doubt on the idea that the damage could be considered “accidental” or “poor seamanship”.
Tsahkna did not accuse Russia directly. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson said on Sunday that while Sweden was not jumping to conclusions or “saying that it has damaged anyone without solid reasons,” it was not naive.
“The security situation and the frequent occurrence of unusual things in the Baltic Sea make us believe that it is impossible to rule out a hostile motive.”
“There is little evidence that a ship accidentally and unwittingly … did not understand that it could cause damage,” he said.
