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Surrealing in the Years: Don't worry, they're only telling us to sit down with their fingers
JD Vance says US take over of Greenland ‘makes sense’ during scaled back visit
Oil tanker Eagle S on the Gulf of Finland on 28 December 2024 next to Finnish border guard ship Uisko (L) and tugboat Ukko (front). Cook Islands-registered ship Eagle S is suspected of the disruption of the Finland-Estonia electrical link Estlink 2. Sipa US/Alamy Live News
Baltic Tensions
Nato leaders in Baltics seek to boost security after cable 'sabotage'
They are expected to announce a Nato patrol mission monitoring activity “below, above, and on the sea surface”.
NATO COUNTRIES ON the Baltic Sea are meeting in Helsinki today looking to boost security following the suspected sabotage of undersea cables, widely blamed on Russia.
They are expected to announce a Nato patrol mission monitoring activity “below, above, and on the sea surface”, researcher Iro Sarkka of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs told AFP.
Several undersea telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months, with experts and politicians accusing Russia of orchestrating a hybrid war.
The sabotage has been blamed on a “shadow fleet” of vessels — often ageing and operating under opaque ownership — that carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products, embargoed since the invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s clear that we have to be better prepared for different kind of threats and we can see many hybrid threats around us,” executive vice-president of the European Commission Henna Virkkunen told reporters after arriving at the summit today.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said it was “totally unacceptable that these damages seem to have been increasing in numbers recently” but expressed caution in apportioning blame. “We don’t accuse anybody for anything so far. We don’t do that easily without very firm proof,” Kristersson said.
Today’s meeting will focus on “strengthening of Nato’s presence in the Baltic Sea and responding to the threat posed by Russia’s shadow fleet”, according to a statement from the office of Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who is co-hosting the meeting with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal.
Nato said in late December it would increase its presence in the region following the suspected sabotage of undersea cables between Finland and Estonia but it has yet to announce an official operation.
“How long the potential operation will last and what kind of mandate it will have I assume will be revealed (on Tuesday),” Sarkka said.
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“The actions in recent months related to the Russian shadow fleet and sabotage has prompted Nato to develop its maritime situational awareness in the Baltic Sea region,” she added.
A comprehensive Nato operation would serve as a “deterrent and a strategic signal” that Nato is prepared to act in response to the recent activities, according to Sarkka.
Last week, Finland said Nato would contribute two vessels to a monitoring mission in the Baltic Sea. The British-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), which included Nordic and Baltic states as well as the Netherlands, also said it would increase its surveillance. Sweden is sending up to three warships and a surveillance aircraft.
Tensions have mounted around the Baltic Sea since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined. In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.
The most recent incident occurred on 25 December, when the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged. That came just weeks after two telecom cables in Swedish waters were severed on 17-18 November.
Suspicion over the Christmas Day incident has fallen on the Eagle S, a Cook Island-flagged oil tanker believed to be part of the “shadow fleet”.
Finnish police seized the Eagle S on 28 December as part of a criminal investigation.
Finnish authorities last week deemed the ship unseaworthy following an inspection, barred it from sailing and have banned eight crew members from leaving the country while police carry out a probe.
Investigators suspect the cables were damaged by the tanker’s anchor being dragged over them.
Surrealing in the Years: Don't worry, they're only telling us to sit down with their fingers
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arctic reception
JD Vance says US take over of Greenland ‘makes sense’ during scaled back visit
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