NATO leaders gathered in the Finnish capital Helsinki on Tuesday said European countries should be prepared to face further incidents in the Baltic Sea.
This follows recent damage or disruption to undersea power cables, telecommunications links and gas pipelines in view of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics acknowledged that with more than 2,000 ships transiting the busy waterway every day, it would be difficult to achieve full coverage.
“Let’s face it, we can’t ensure 100% safety but if we are sending a bold signal I think such incidents will reduce or stop,” he told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
Reports of people being caught loitering near ship cables from Poland
As leaders gathered, Polish public TV reported a fresh incident of a Russian “shadow fleet” ship circling around the Baltic pipe that delivers gas from Norway to Poland.
Polish state broadcaster TVP World cited an unnamed Foreign Ministry source in providing the latest update.
The “shadow fleet” refers to ships used by Russia to transport oil, weapons and grain in violation of international sanctions imposed over the Ukraine war. The ships are not regulated or insured by traditional Western providers.
Scholz hopes to ‘ensure greater security’ in the Baltic Sea
The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden, as well as the European Commissioner for Technological Sovereignty and Security, Hanna Virkkunen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte took part in Tuesday’s talks.
Finnish police last month seized a tanker carrying Russian oil, saying they suspected it had damaged the Estlink 2 power line linking Finland and Estonia, as well as four telecommunications cables by dragging it along the seabed. Had given.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday that this and other recent incidents in the Baltic Sea, including off Germany’s northern coast, should be considered part of a hybrid strategy.
“It is important that we come together here now and talk about how we can work together to ensure greater security in the Baltic Sea region,” Scholz said.
msh/kb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)