NATO member Estonia has deployed a naval warship to defend its underwater power cables after a Russian vessel allegedly cut one of the wires in yet another act of sabotage against the allied nations.
Estonia and NATO leaders said they would step up their naval patrols in the Baltic Sea region in response to the Russian fuel tanker Eagle S allegedly dropping its anchor on Christmas Day to purposefully cut the Estlink-2 power cable connecting members Finland and Estonia.
The Finnish Coast Guard have taken the Russian ship into custody, reaching the Kilpilahti port in Porvoo over the weekend.
Investigators have discovered anchor drag marks along the seabed allegedly caused by Eagle S’s antics.
Finnish police chief investigator Sami Paila said the marks continued for dozens of miles, “if not, almost 62 miles,” along the Baltic seabed.
“Our current understanding is that the drag mark in question is that of the anchor of the Eagle S vessel. We have been able to clarify this matter through underwater research,” Paila told Finnish national TV broadcaster Yle.
Finnish officials described the Eagle S as just one of the ships deployed as a part of the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet” of fuel tankers deployed to carry out acts of sabotage against the West.
Finnish and European Union officials said the Russian ships were all aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired with the sole purpose of evading Western sanctions levied against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
The cutting of the Estlink-2 line comes just a month after European nations accused another Russian ship of slicing the 135-mile-long internet cable connecting NATO members Sweden to Lithuania and the 700-mile-long telecommunications cable linking Finland to allied Germany.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that the attacks on undersea cables in the Baltic Sea are not isolated incidents but “part of a pattern of deliberate and coordinated actions to damage our digital and energy infrastructure.”
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, whose nation joined NATO in 2023 following Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, had previously suggested that her country and the others were being directly targeted by Moscow over the war.
The affected nations are all NATO and European Union members, the latter of which has committed more than $168 billion in defense aid to Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly denied the allegations from the European leaders, claiming the reports of sabotage were faked as a means to damage Russia’s reputation.
With Post wires
