A NATO group led by the Belgian Patrol currently in the Baltic Sea near Estonia following a series of sabotage incidents in strategic waters.
Baltic is at the center of geopolitical tensions, in particular since the start of the Russian invasion on a large scale of Ukraine.
It is also an area of importance for NATO, in particular due to the presence of many telecommunications cables below.
These are regularly threatened by ships suspected of having links with the “shadow fleet” of Russia's ships.
NATO said in January that it would increase its military presence and its technological innovation in the Baltic Sea to protect critical infrastructure against sabotage, said the head of the Transatlantic Alliance at a Helsinki summit.
The safeguarding of the infrastructure “is of the utmost importance,” said secretary general Mark Rutte to journalists, citing the energy of pipelines and 95% of Internet traffic which is secured via underwater cables.
This comes after damage to a cable between Lithuania and Sweden, another between Germany and Finland, and others between Estonia and Finland.
Surveys are underway, but the secretary general of NATO considers that there are serious reasons.
“We have seen elements of a campaign to destabilize our societies through cyber attacks, assassination and sabotage attempts,” said Russia, the alleged culprit.
In response, NATO increases surveillance via a small fleet of maritime drones, while an improved surveillance operation called “Sentry Baltic” involves frigates and maritime patrol planes.
“We will respond decisively when critical infrastructure in our neighborhood is in danger. Protecting it requires national and international action,” said Finnish president Alexander Stubb.
The leaders of the NATO countries in the Baltic region have also committed to put pressure on a robust application, in particular with regard to the Russian “shadow fleet” of oil tankers used by Moscow to escape Western sanctions against oil sales.
Aging ships, often with dark property, regularly operate without regulated insurance by the West.
