NATO bolsters Baltic security with new Gulf of Finland mission
On Wednesday, the NATO Naval Command announced that two ships would be deployed to the Gulf of Finland as part of the new Baltic Sentry mission, which was established at Tuesday's meeting of Alliance representatives in Helsinki. The mission aims to monitor the underwater cables in the Baltic, which could be targets of sabotage.
NATO has sent the German minehunter FGS Datteln and the Dutch hydrographic ship HNLMS Luymes for this purpose. The ships are already in the waters of the Gulf of Finland, reported Finnish public radio Yle and Estonian ERR.
"NATO is ready to defend the critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. As part of the Baltic Sentry operation, units from the Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) and mine countermeasures forces (SNMCMG1), as well as reconnaissance planes and maritime drones, are being deployed to enhance the Alliance's deterrence, defense, and response capabilities against destabilizing activities," stated NATO Command in a communiqué.
On Tuesday, during a meeting in Helsinki attended by leaders of eight Baltic countries—Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland—as well as the European Commission, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the establishment of the Baltic Sentry mission.
This is the Alliance's response to recent incidents involving the damage of underwater cables, such as the Estonian-Finnish electrical connection EstLink2 and several telecommunications cables located on the seabed in the Gulf of Finland, which were affected on December 25. The suspected culprit is the tanker Eagle S, sailing under the flag of the Cook Islands, believed to be part of the Russian shadow fleet.
During the Christmas period, the vessel was sailing from Saint Petersburg towards Egypt with a cargo of Russian fuel. Finnish police suspect that the cable damage resulted from dragging an anchor across approximately 62 miles of the seabed.
After the incident, the authorities of Estonia and Finland appealed to NATO for support and increased presence in the Baltic Sea.
The NATO Secretary-General did not specify the number of ships and other units participating in the mission. According to Yle sources, about 10 ships, including submarines, could be involved in the operation, and the mission may last until April.
"Urgent need"
The Baltic Sea floor contains up to 30 international cables and six gas pipelines. In the fall of 2023, the Balticconnector gas pipeline was damaged. "The increasing frequency and sophistication of such attacks underscore the urgent need for coordinated regional and NATO strategies to protect critical infrastructure and prevent future incidents," said Zuzanna Nowak, an expert at the Ignacy Łukasiewicz Institute for Energy Policy and director of analysis at the think tank The Opportunity Institute for Foreign Affairs, in an article on money.pl on Tuesday.
"Especially since Poland's role in supporting Ukraine or building Central and Eastern Europe's energy security makes it a potential target for Russian retaliation," she added.
