Rutte: NATO will increase military presence in the Baltic Sea after damage to underwater cables

NATO will increase its presence in the Baltic Sea after a series of incidents involving damage to submarine cables, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wrote on the X Network on December 27 after speaking with Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

The day before, Finland detained the oil tanker Eagle S after the failure of the Estlink 2 power cable connecting Estonia and Finland on December 25 in the Baltic Sea.

The tanker was spotted in the area where the Estlink 2 cable is laid. According to the marine traffic monitoring service Marinetraffic, the vessel significantly reduced its speed at the moment when the cable began to detect obstacles, reports Yle.

Financial Times sources added that the tanker is under investigation because it is suspected of damaging three communication cables in the Gulf of Finland.

There have been several cases of damage to cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea. In the winter of this year, the underwater electric cable connecting Finland and Estonia was broken. In October 2023, telecommunication cables connecting Estonia with Finland and Sweden were damaged. At the same time, the Balticconnector gas pipeline was damaged.