NATO to deploy 10 ships to protect Baltic Sea cables

NATO is deploying approximately 10 ships to safeguard crucial underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea by the end of the week, Finnish newspaper Yle reported on Tuesday.

The ships will remain at sea until April, patrolling areas near energy and data cables to prevent potential sabotage.

This move to increase NATO’s presence comes after a series of incidents in the Baltic Sea in recent months, including a damaged power cable between Finland and Estonia and the severing of four telecommunications cables during Christmas.

Meanwhile, Finnish police said on Tuesday they had recovered a lost anchor from the seabed as part of an investigation of suspected sabotage against power and internet cables in the Baltic Sea.

Finland seized the Eagle S tanker carrying Russian oil last month on suspicion the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecom cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.

“The location where the anchor was found is along the route of the Eagle S … towards the western end of the drag trace found on the seabed,” Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

Two undersea communication cables in the Baltic Sea were severely damaged in November this year, fuelling suspicions of sabotage amid rising geopolitical tensions.

The cables, linking Finland and Germany, as well as Lithuania and Sweden, were disrupted on consecutive days, igniting concerns over possible Russian interference with critical global infrastructure.

With inputs from agencies.