By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-10 14:41:37 | Updated at 2025-01-10 17:54:42
3 hours ago
Nato is increasing its surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea region with two ships deployed to the area following the suspected sabotage of undersea cables between Finland and Estonia.
The move was unveiled on Friday by Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, who called on policymakers to increase technical surveillance of the area, noting that it is impossible to monitor all submarine activity with ships.
A wider presence in the area by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has a “calming and stabilising effect and we are very pleased about the decision”, Valtonen told reporters in Helsinki.
The decision comes after Finland retrieved the anchor of a tanker, Eagle S, from the seabed as it probes aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference of communications in the cable breach incident that happened in late December.
The vessel, sailing under the Cook Islands flag, has been identified as a member of the so-called shadow fleet transporting Russian petroleum products.
The incident is the third in about 15 months in which a ship anchor has ruptured underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
