NATO’s standing maritime group will set off from its base in the German port of Kiel on Saturday for the Baltic states.
The group had been concentrating on the North Sea, but recent tensions in the Baltic have resulted in a change of priorities. “We are needed elsewhere,” said the new commander, Erik Kockx, at the Kiel naval base.
Kockx, who is from Belgium, said that the shipping routes and underwater infrastructure of the Baltic Sea are of strategic importance for NATO and are vital for the economy and security of its members.
NATO is strengthening its presence in the Baltic Sea region to monitor shipping and protect communication cables. There have been several suspected acts of sabotage in the region in recent months.
The Dutch Luymes and the German minesweeper Datteln are part of the group, with more vessels expected to follow later.
Belgium has assumed command of NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1 (SNMCMG1), taking over from Germany, which led the unit for the past year.
Over the past few months, the unit reportedly found 53 historical mines and detonated 38 of them. The rest have been disposed of in other ways. A total of 120 nautical square miles have been searched.
