NATO announces mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic region

2025-01-14 20:33:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

NATO is launching a new mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea region after a series of incidents that have raised fears of sabotage and espionage by Russia in the strategic region, the head of the alliance said on Tuesday.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the mission, codenamed "Baltic Guard," would include frigates, patrol aircraft and a fleet of naval drones to provide "enhanced surveillance."

"Across the alliance, we have seen elements of a campaign to destabilize our societies through cyberattacks, assassination attempts and sabotage, including the possible sabotage of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea ," Rutte told reporters at the end of a meeting in Helsinki with the leaders of the Baltic states.

While announcing this new mission, the NATO chief noted that more than 95 percent of internet traffic is provided via undersea cables and 1.3 million kilometers of cables guarantee financial transactions worth $10 trillion every day.

Just as Mr. Rutte was meeting in Helsinki with the leaders of the Baltic countries, Polish state television TVP World reported that a ship belonging to Russia's "shadow fleet" had been seen sailing around a natural gas pipeline that runs from Norway to Poland.

Russia's "shadow fleet" is a reference to hundreds of aging tankers that are routinely used to evade Western sanctions on Russian oil exports. It is often unclear who owns these ships and what safety practices they have.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, speaking at a conference later in Helsinki, said he had not yet received a report on the matter but would inform the public as soon as he learned more.

Rutte said that NATO's opponents should know that the alliance will not allow attacks on its critical infrastructure.

NATO announces mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic region

The meeting was attended by leaders of Finland, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

Through a statement, the Baltic Sea allies warned that they have the right, in accordance with international law, to take action against any ship suspected of evading sanctions and threatening security.

They said that Russia's use of the so-called shadow fleet poses a threat to maritime and environmental security. They also stressed that beyond the threat to underwater infrastructure, this reprehensible practice significantly supports the financing of Russia's large-scale attack on Ukraine.

To respond to this situation, leaders pledged to implement creative solutions, developing new technologies for surveillance, tracking suspicious vessels, and underwater surveillance.

They also pledged to explore new legal forms to address this challenge and to increase information sharing. The allies said their effort would include expanded partnerships with the private sector, in particular infrastructure operators and high-tech companies.

A series of incidents have raised security concerns.

On December 26, Finnish authorities detained a Russian-bound ship named "Eagle S" while investigating whether it had damaged an electrical cable in the Baltic Sea and several internet cables.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in Helsinki that Germany will participate in the "Baltic Guard" mission.

Sweden also announced on Sunday that it plans to contribute up to three warships to increase the alliance's presence in the Baltic Sea, as it tries to protect against sabotage of underwater infrastructure.

Asked for more details on this new operation, NATO chief Rutte declined to provide data on the number of ships, saying the figure could change from week to week.

"We will use the full range of possibilities we have as an alliance," Rutte said./ VOA