NATO States Decide to Radically Strengthen Military Presence in the Baltic Sea
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced after the end of the NATO Baltic Sea Summit in Helsinki, Finland, that the NATO member states have decided to significantly strengthen their military presence in the Baltic Sea in response to the growing Russian aggression.
Although Tusk did not specify which country would provide which kind of reinforcement in the Baltic region, he pointed out that the Polish Navy has limited capabilities.
The Baltic Sea, both on the seafloor and on the surface, has a broad infrastructure, including cables, gas pipelines, production platforms, and wind farms, according to Tusk.
In November and December of 2024, the Baltic Sea saw cable damage, for which the West, including Russia and its allies, held Russia responsible.
In November, the C-Lion1 telecommunications cable between Finland and Germany was cut. The underwater cable, which was put into operation in 2016, stretches over 1,170 kilometers from Helsinki to Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and is the only direct underwater data cable connecting Finland to Central Europe.
At the same time, a communication cable between Sweden and Lithuania was cut, as confirmed by a spokesperson for the Swedish telecommunications company Telia. Authorities suspected the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 of being responsible for the incident.
In December, the EstLink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia, as well as four other communication cables connecting Finland to Estonia and Germany, were damaged. Authorities believe that the tanker Eagle S in the Finnish Gulf damaged the cables with its anchor. The ship, owned by the company Caravella based in the United Arab Emirates, sails under the flag of the Cook Islands, and Western media has suggested that it may be part of a “Russian shadow fleet.