NATO announces new mission to protect submarine cables in the Baltic Sea

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO launches new mission to protect submarine cables in the Baltic Sea region after a series of incidents in the Baltic, which have increased concerns about possible Russian activities in the region, the alliance leader said Tuesday.

Secretary General Mark Rutte told a meeting in Helsinki with leaders of NATO countries on the Baltic Sea that the effort would be called Baltic Sentry.

“Across the alliance, we have seen elements of a campaign to destabilize our societies through cyberattacks, assassination attempts and sabotage, including possible sabotage of submarine cables in the Baltic Sea,” Rutte told reporters.

In announcing the new operation, Rutte noted that more than 95% of internet traffic is secured via undersea cables and that 1.3 million kilometers (808,000 miles) of cables guarantee an estimated value of 10 trillion every day. dollars of financial transactions.

Rutte said the mission would include, among others, frigates and maritime patrol aircraft, and “strengthen our vigilance in the Baltic.” He also said a small fleet of naval drones would be deployed “to provide enhanced surveillance and deterrence.”

Even as Rutte met the leaders of the Baltic countries in Helsinki, Polish public television channel TVP reported that a ship belonging to the Russian company “ghost fleet” was seen circling a gas pipeline linking Norway to Poland. The fleet is made up of hundreds of aging tankers, with questionable ownership and safety practices, that avoid sanctions and keep oil revenues flowing to Moscow.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said the issue of the ship seen near the pipeline was discussed at the meeting, without giving details.

Rutte said NATO’s adversaries must know that the alliance will not accept attacks on its critical infrastructure, emphasizing that “we will do everything in our power to ensure that we fight back, that we are in able to see what’s happening and then move on to the next step. measures to ensure that this does not happen again.

The meeting included leaders from Finland, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

In a statement, the Baltic Sea allies warned that “we reserve the right, in accordance with international law, to take action against any vessel suspected of circumventing sanctions and threatening our security, infrastructure and the environment.” .

They said that “Russia’s use of the so-called ghost fleet poses a particular threat to maritime and environmental security.” They said that beyond the threat to underwater infrastructure, “this reprehensible practice” also “significantly supports the financing of Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.”

In response, the leaders pledged to “start deploying innovative solutions, developing new technologies for surveillance and tracking of suspicious vessels and underwater surveillance.”

They also pledged to explore new legal avenues to address this challenge, intensify information sharing and said their efforts would “include strengthened partnerships with the private sector, particularly infrastructure operators and technology companies cutting edge”.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in separate remarks to reporters in Helsinki that Germany would participate in the Baltic Sentry mission. Asked whether this meant Germany would provide surveillance ships or aircraft and whether he had made a specific offer, he replied: “We will participate with everything we have in terms of naval capabilities; this will vary with regard to the concrete deployment possibilities.

Sweden also announced On Sunday, it plans to contribute up to three warships to a NATO effort to increase the alliance’s presence in the Baltic Sea, as it tries to guard against sabotage of underwater infrastructure .

Pressed for more details on what the operation might entail, Rutte declined to provide the number of ships, saying the figure could vary from week to week and that “we don’t want to make the enemy wiser than he already is.”

“We will use the full range of possibilities available to our alliance,” Rutte said.

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Gera reported from Warsaw, Poland. Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed reporting.