Wed. Feb 19th, 2025

NATO deploys its forces in the Baltic Sea amid accusations of sabotage against Russia news


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NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said on Tuesday that the alliance will deploy ships, aircraft and drones in the Baltic Sea in response to the sabotage of several submarine cables suspected of being behind Russia.

Rutte explained in a press conference after a meeting in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, of the countries overlooking the Baltic Sea, “I will not go into details about the specific numbers of ships because the matter may vary from week to week, and we do not want to make the enemy more aware than he is now.”

He added, “What is important is to use appropriate military means in the appropriate places to deter future destabilizing actions.”

The Helsinki meeting, which was chaired by Finland and Estonia, included, in addition to Rutte, officials from Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, as well as Executive Vice President of the European Commission Hina Virkkonen.

(From Yemen) Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Estonia Christine Michel, and President of Finland Alexander Stubb during the Helsinki meeting (French)

The action, which NATO called “Baltic Guard,” follows a series of incidents in which power cables, communications lines and gas pipelines were damaged since the start of the Russian war on Ukraine in February 2022.

Last month, Finnish police stopped a tanker carrying Russian oil and said they suspected it had damaged a Finnish-Estonian power line and four communications cables.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said the damage on December 25 was “definitely” linked to Russia.

“There is definitely a link in the sense that the ship was part of the Russian stealth fleet. We know that its cargo was completely Russian. The link definitely exists,” he told Reuters, but added that it was too early to draw further conclusions.

Rutte considered that Finland’s actions against the “Eagle S” oil tanker showed that ships that cause damage can be stopped by law enforcement authorities, and added, “Potential threats to our infrastructure will have consequences, including the possibility of ships being boarded, arrested, and detained.”

While the Baltic Sea region is on high alert for fear of sabotage, the Polish army on Tuesday denied a local media report that said a Russian ship from the “Shadow Fleet” was seen hovering near the Baltic gas pipeline, stressing that this “did not happen.”

NATO has previously sent two ships to monitor naval facilities and the Russian “Ghost Fleet,” which includes ships flying a foreign flag.

Moscow is accused of using these ships to transport oil to circumvent international sanctions, and Russia has repeatedly warned NATO against expansion near its borders, and said that this could lead to a clash between them.


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