The meeting comes after a series of incidents in the Baltics that have raised concerns about possible Russian activities in the region.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced this Tuesday that the alliance is launching a new mission to protect submarine cables in the Baltic Sea region.
Rutte said at a meeting in Helsinki with the leaders of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries located in the Baltic Sea that the effort would be dubbed “Baltic Sentry”.
“This will involve a range of assets, including frigates and maritime patrol aircraft, among others, and will increase our surveillance in the Baltic,” Rute explained, adding that a small fleet of naval drones will be deployed “to provide surveillance and improve deterrence”.
The meeting comes after a series of incidents in the Baltics that have raised concerns about possible Russian activities in the region.
As Rutte met in Helsinki with the leaders of eight Baltic countries, reports emerged on Polish state broadcaster TVP that a ship belonging to “ghost fleet” of Russia (parallel fleet to circumvent sanctions, safety or environmental standards and avoid the cost of insurance) was seen near a natural gas pipeline connecting Norway to Poland.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb admitted that the issue was discussed at the meeting, but did not give details. The meeting included leaders from Finland, Germany, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
In announcing the new operation, Rutte noted that more than 95% of Internet traffic is protected by submarine cables, and 1.3 million kilometers of cables secure around 10 trillion dollars in financial transactions every day.
At all points of the alliance “We have seen elements of a campaign to destabilize our societies through cyber attacks, assassination attempts and sabotage, including possible sabotage of submarine cables in the Baltic Sea”he stressed.
Rutte also said that NATO’s adversaries must be aware that the alliance will not accept attacks on its critical infrastructure, stressing that “everything possible will be done to ensure retaliation and show the ability to see what is happening and take action to ensure that this does not happen again”.
The secretary general declined to provide numbers of ships that will be involved in the operation, saying that it could vary from week to week.
“We don’t want to make the enemy wiser than he already is,” he said. “We will make use of the full range of possibilities we have as an alliance,” he said, including “remotely operated vehicles” and drones.
