(Bloomberg) — NATO is increasing its surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea region with two ships deployed to the area following suspected sabotage of undersea cables between Finland and Estonia.
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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 Organization has a “calming and stabilizing 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, and prompted Estonia to send its own military vessel to patrol one of two subsea electricity cables with Finland in late December.
Finland and Estonia are co-hosting a summit with NATO members from around the Baltic Sea in Helsinki on Tuesday to discuss measures to secure critical assets on the seabed.
–With assistance from Ott Tammik.
(Adds Estonian military vessel deployment in second paragraph)
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