NATO Increasing Baltic Sea Patrols After Possible Sabotage of Undersea Cables Between Estonia and Finland
Meanwhile, China blocks the investigation of bulker suspected in November’s communication cable damage incident in the Baltic Sea involving one of its ships.
Legal Insurrection readers may recall our report on the possible sabotage of critical communication cables in the Baltic Sea.
Earlier this month, Sweden requested help in its investigation of the Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-flagged bulk carrier suspected of being involved in the incident. The ship may have dragged its anchor over cables connecting Sweden to Lithuania and Finland to Germany.
Now, just a few weeks later, on this Christmas Day, the Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia experienced an unexpected outage, reducing the cross-border power transmission capacity between the two countries substantially.
Finnish police are investigating whether a Russian ship was involved.
The authorities said on Thursday that they believe the anchor of the Eagle S, a tanker registered with the Cook Islands, may have damaged the Estlink 2 cable, which became disconnected on Wednesday.
The vessel is thought to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which is made up of ships that carry embargoed Russian oil products.
It is the latest in a series of incidents in recent years, in which underwater cables in the Baltic region have been either damaged or severed completely.
Fingrid, the operator of Finland’s national grid, said Estlink 2 remained out of service but that the damage “did not endanger the operation of the electricity system” in the country.
Repairs are expected to take “several months”.
Subsequently, Finnish authorities detained the ship.
Finnish police and border guards boarded the vessel, the Eagle S, early Thursday and took over the command bridge, Helsinki Police Chief Jari Liukku told a news conference. The vessel was being held in Finnish territorial waters, police said.
The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands, but was described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers.
Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance. Russia’s use of the vessels has raised environmental concerns about accidents given their age and uncertain insurance coverage.
The Eagle S’s anchor is suspected of causing damage to the cable, Yle television reported, relying on police statements.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said in a statement that the incident was “the latest in a series of suspected attacks on critical infrastructure” and commended the Finnish authorities “for their swift action in boarding the suspected vessel.”
In response, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte indicated the organization will increase patrols in the Baltic Sea region.
In a post on X, Rutte said that he had spoken to Finland’s President Alexander Stubb “about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables.” Rutte said that “NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea.”
Asked for details about what might be done and when, NATO headquarters would say only that the 32-country alliance “remains vigilant and is working to provide further support, including by enhancing our military presence” in the region.
Spoke w/ @alexstubb about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables. I expressed my full solidarity and support. #NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea.
— Mark Rutte (@SecGenNATO) December 27, 2024
Meanwhile, to nobody’s surprise, China blocked the investigation of the bulker suspected in the earlier incident.
Chinese government officials have refused to let a Swedish prosecutor board a Chinese bulker that was accused of sabotaging subsea cables in the Baltic, according to the Financial Times. The vessel and crew have now departed the region, and they are under way for Egypt – leaving just one last opportunity to apprehend them in NATO member states’ waters.
…Sweden – which is leading the investigation – petitioned the Yi Peng 3’s flag state for permission to board and inspect the vessel. The flag state, China, said that it would cooperate and then negotiated over the terms of investigators’ access for weeks.
In the end, Chinese authorities sent their own team to conduct an investigation and allowed European representatives to participate as observers only. Sweden’s public prosecutor on the case, Henrik Söderman, was disallowed by Chinese officials and could not board to perform his duties, according to the Financial Times.
“It is remarkable that the ship leaves without the prosecutor being given the opportunity to inspect the vessel and question the crew within the framework of a Swedish criminal investigation,” Swedish foreign minister Maria Malmer Stenergard told the FT.
I predict 2025 will be a busy year for the NATO Baltic Sea patrols.
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Comments
Like pirates, ships suspected of attacking cables should be boarded and detained. If found to have damaged the cables, ship & cargo is forfeited for repair costs.
Ok….when the Chinese accuse a US Naval vessel we’re gonna meekly comply? How about Iran? North Korea? What if some tin pot Nation decides to detain a cruise ship and hold the passengers and crew for ‘questioning’ until their investigation is complete? If the USA is not gonna roll over and take it when done to us then why should the Chinese?
You missed the “If found to have damaged the cables” part…
No, not at all. The basis of the proposed boarding and detention of vessels in the post I replied to was ‘…ships SUSPECTED of…’.
Where some Nations use ‘suspected of’ as the pretext to seize control of a vessel, its cargo and detain the crew/passengers then other Nations could do the same.
I can answer that for you.
https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/reckless-act-1968-pueblo-crisis-and-north-koreas-relations-third-world
That is an example, though if this sort of thing is gonna become routine then we should find examples that aren’t described as a ‘crisis’. As I recall that vessel was doing ongoing surveillance for NSA and NK got pissy after warnings were ignored and claimed (perhaps ‘SUSPECTED’ is a better term) that the Pueblo entered territorial waters.
In any event so long as everyone arguing in favor of this sort of thing is totes cool with other Nations forcing vessels to heave to, submit to boarding, search and detainment of crew, passengers, cargo and the vessel itself while that Nation completes its ‘investigation’ then sure.
I suspect that the folks arguing for seizing vessels will not be in favor of reciprocal actions when they occur.
I would agree, but I’m comfortably certain these ships are used precisely because they and their cargos aren’t worth much…
Putin has been wanting to retake the Baltic countries since they became independent.
The easiest way to deal with the “shadow fleet” is to make it disappear.
Newnew Polar Bear
Yi Peng 3
Eagle-S
Unknown trawler
2013 – On at least four ocassions the Russian navy harassed and impeded contractors laying undersea cable between Lithuania and Sweden.
The Chinese cargo ship Newnew Polar Bear dragged anchor across the undersea balticonnector between Estonia and Finland – leaving a kilometers long furrow in the Sea of Finland and a broken anchor. The Finns retrieved the anchor and photographed the ship missing its port-side anchor at a St Petersburg quay.
The Eagle-S track is “dozens of kilometers in length.
https://gcaptain.com/tag/subsea-cable/
Cable bonus points –
Norway- Svalbard cable 7 January 2022: […] damage to the outer jacket of the cable. This can happen if an anchor or a trawl is dragged across it. What does not seem to be present in the pictures, is a clear break or sharp deformation of the reinforcement around the cable, which could happen if you get stuck on a cable with a trawl or an anchor.”
“The [Norwegian] police stated that this cable appears to have been cut, after it had been hooked. The marks on the cable resemble that of an angle grinder. Foto: Troms politidistrikt”
Times of Finnmark: https://tinyurl.com/3xnekcck
On a live cable?!
That must have made the Letterman grinder chick look like kid stuff!
Why is NATO involved and not the EU? If Sweden is alleging an attack on itself then they need to invoke Article 5 of the NATO Treaty. If not then the EU should be the ones doing this.
By calling NATO they are once again freeloading on the US who will show up with ships to patrol. Let them pay for it themselves.