Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkana said on Friday that Estonia has started naval patrols to protect a power cable under the Baltic Sea from Finland.
This comes after suspected sabotage of a similar cable earlier this week.
“If there is a threat to critical maritime infrastructure in our region, there will be a response,” Tsahkana said on social media.
Tsahkana said the damage to undersea installations was so severe that it was difficult to attribute it to mere accidents or poor seamanship.
Finland seizes Russia’s ‘Shadow Fleet’ ship
Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker on Thursday because they suspected it was involved in cutting vital undersea cables.
Police suspect that the oil tanker’s anchor may have damaged the Estlink 2 submarine cable on Wednesday.
Officials also believe the ship may be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, used to evade Western sanctions.
“The assumption at the moment is that it is a shadow fleet ship and the cargo was loaded with unleaded petrol in a Russian port,” said Sami Rakshit, director general of Finnish Customs.
The Eagle S ship, which flies under the Cook Islands flag in the South Pacific, was en route to Port Said in Egypt.
NATO will increase presence in the Baltic Sea
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told the military alliance it will “increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea.”
Asked about Finland’s investigation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “I can’t say anything precise here, this is a very narrow-profile issue that is hardly the prerogative of the (Russian) presidential administration.”
Wednesday’s incident came exactly a month after a telecommunications cable broke in Swedish territorial waters.
LO/RC (AFP, Reuters)
