NATO Deploys Frigates Against Suspected Sabotage ━ The European Conservative


The NATO military alliance is launching a new mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea region, following a suspicious pattern of damage to undersea cables in recent months.

Without providing specifics on the number of frigates, patrol aircraft, and naval drones that will be deployed, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte declared

this military activity is part of our ongoing effort to enhance maritime presence and monitoring of key areas for our alliance.

As we recently reported, the EstLink 2 undersea power cable between Finland and Estonia in the Baltic Sea was damaged in December, and NATO allies have pointed the finger at the Eagle S oil tanker, which is suspected of being part of a ‘shadow fleet’ of ships that circumvent European Union sanctions imposed on Russian oil.

Finnish police seized the ship as part of a criminal investigation. Authorities last week deemed the ship unseaworthy, barred it from sailing and have banned eight crew members from leaving the country while police carry out a probe.

Though Moscow denies such accusations, it has been blamed for carrying out acts of sabotage throughout Europe as part of its hybrid warfare programme.

After a meeting in Helsinki with the leaders of Baltic nations on Tuesday, January 14th, Rutte described:

elements of a campaign to destabilise our societies. Through cyberattacks, assassination attempts, and sabotage—including possible sabotage of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. With damage to energy and telecoms cables that are vital for our nations’ security and prosperity.

Rutte emphasised that more than 95% of internet traffic is secured via undersea cables, and that 1.3 million kilometres of cables guarantee an estimated $10 trillion worth of financial transactions every day.

Furthermore, he warned ships engaging in hostile activity that their actions will have consequences, “including possible boarding, impounding, and arrest.”

The damage to the power cable in the Baltic Sea was the most recent event in a series of suspected acts of sabotage in the region since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago. Since then, both Finland and Sweden have joined NATO in a bid to improve their security, at the same time angering Russia—which vowed to halt the expansion of the Western military alliance.

Last November, a Chinese ship was suspected of damaging two fiber-optic data cables connecting Nordic countries to mainland Europe, but some European officials pointed the finger at Russia, calling the incidents “acts of hybrid warfare.”

In September 2022, underwater explosions damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines that run between Russia and Germany. In its investigative report, The Wall Street Journal implicated Ukrainian intelligence and military officials, as well as high-level Polish collaborators. Moscow accused Germany of failing to properly investigate the sabotage.

In October 2023, another gas pipeline, the Balticconnector, which links Finland and Estonia, was severed. Police suspected Chinese container vessel Newnew Polar Bear of damaging telecoms cables connecting Estonia to Finland and Sweden, before hitting the gas pipeline on its way to a port near St Petersburg in Russia.





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