“The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Finland met today near Stockholm”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
The countries also said they were ready to step up sanctions against Russia and discussed an investigation into the rupture of underwater communications cables earlier this month in the Baltic Sea.
“Together with our allies, we are committed to strengthening our deterrence and defense, including resilience, against conventional and hybrid attacks, and expanding sanctions against Russia and those who support Russian aggression,” the leaders said in a statement.
Representatives of the seven countries met for negotiations on transatlantic relations, regional security cooperation and a common policy on the war in Ukraine. This was the first meeting of the heads of government of the Northern Baltic countries since 2017. Poland took part in it for the first time.
Ahead of the meeting, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk proposed joint monitoring of the Baltic Sea after the damage to two undersea communications cables, which is being investigated as a hybrid attack.
The Danish Navy has detained the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which is suspected of being involved in damaging telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea. It was reported that the arrest took place in Danish territorial waters on the evening of November 19 by patrol boat P525.
On November 18, it became known that two underwater optical fiber cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea. One connects Germany with Finland, the other – Sweden with Lithuania.
Read also: German Defense Minister suggests that damage to Baltic cables is sabotage
The Swedish prosecutor’s office has started a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage due to cable damage. Finland and Germany also announced a joint investigation and reported “suspected intentional damage” to the cable.
The vessel Yi Peng 3 left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on November 15. Last week, Russia said it was “absurd” that it was involved in the violations.
Representatives of the foreign ministries of the two countries believe that security in the region is under threat due to “hybrid war by malicious entities” and also due to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
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. China later said that the damage to the Balticconnector was caused by a Hong Kong-flagged vessel that had anchored the gas pipeline during a storm.