At the end of the week, NATO will begin an operation to protect critical objects in the Baltic Sea with the help of up to ten ships. About this informs website of the North Atlantic Alliance.
NATO will send ships already in the Baltic Sea, as well as additional ships provided by the member states of the alliance. In total, about ten ships will remain in the region until April. The main task will be to ensure the safety of power and telecommunication cables.
In international waters, NATO ships will act primarily as a deterrent, as they have no right to restrict the movement of other vessels. The Gulf of Finland, as before, will be guarded by the ships of Finland and Estonia. The decision to strengthen NATO’s presence in the Baltic Sea was made on December 30 at the request of Finland and Estonia.
“To maintain vigilance, increase situational awareness and prevent future incidents, NATO is increasing its military presence in the Baltic Sea. Allies are also considering other measures to respond to potential threats to critical underwater infrastructure, in particular with the support of the NATO Maritime Center for Critical Underwater Security , which was created in May of this year”, – NATO said in a statement.
In addition, the United Expeditionary Force under the leadership of Great Britain announced the strengthening of monitoring of the movement of ships in the Baltic Sea with the help of artificial intelligence. These forces include 10 states.
We will remind that over the past year, cables were damaged three times in the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. In November 2024, a telecommunications cable between Sweden, Lithuania, Finland and Germany was damaged. In October 2023, the “Balticconnector” gas pipeline and telecommunication cables were damaged by the vessel “Newnew Polarbear”.
