NATO launches Baltic Sentry mission to protect submarine cables

NATO has launched a new mission to increase surveillance of ships in the Baltic Sea after critical submarine cables were damaged or severed last year.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said the mission, dubbed “Baltic Sentry”, would involve more patrol aircraft, warships and drones.

His announcement was made during a summit in Helsinki attended by all NATO countries perched on the Baltic Sea: Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.

Although Russia was not directly named as responsible for the damage to the cable, Rutte said NATO would step up its monitoring of Moscow’s “ghost fleet,” ships without clear ownership that are used to transport products. oil tankers under embargo.

Tensions between NATO countries and Russia have been growing since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“There is reason to be seriously concerned” about the damage to infrastructure, Rutte said. He added that NATO would respond vigorously to such accidents, boarding more suspicious ships and, if necessary, seizing them.

He declined to give further details on the number of assets that will participate in the Baltic Sentry initiative, saying it could change regularly and that he did not want to make “the enemy any wiser than it already is.” “.

Underwater infrastructure is essential not only for electricity supply, but also because more than 95% of internet traffic is secured via submarine cables, Rutte said, adding that “1.3 million kilometers ( 800,000 miles) of cables guarantee an estimated value of $10 trillion in funding. daily transactions.

In an article on X, he said NATO would do “whatever it takes to ensure the safety and security of our critical infrastructure and everything we hold dear.”

Unexplained damage to underwater infrastructure in the Baltic has increased in recent months.

The most recent accident on underwater infrastructure saw an electricity cable linking Finland to Estonia is cut end of December.

The Finnish Coast Guard crew boarded the tanker Eagle S – which was sailing under the flag of the Cook Islands – and steered it towards Finnish waters, while Estonia deployed a patrol vessel to protect its cable submarine electric.

On Monday, Risto Lohi of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation told Reuters that the Eagle S was threatening to cut a second electricity cable and gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia at the time of its seizure.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in December that damage to underwater infrastructure had become “so frequent” that it cast doubt on the idea that the damage could be considered “accidental” or “simply by a lack of seamanship.

Tsahkna did not directly accuse Russia. Neither did Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who said on Sunday that while Sweden did not jump to conclusions and accuse anyone of sabotage without very good reasons, it was not naive either.

“The security situation and the fact that strange things repeatedly happen in the Baltic Sea also lead us to believe that hostile intentions cannot be ruled out.”

“There is little evidence that a vessel accidentally and unknowingly… without understanding could cause damage,” he said.