Estonia Deploys Navy to Monitor Submarine Cable Damage

Repeated Damage to Submarine Cables

Requests for Dispatching Warships to Finland, NATO, and Others

A Finnish patrol vessel is sailing at sea. Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News.

Estonia is deploying a naval patrol ship to prevent repeated damage to submarine cables in the Baltic Sea.

According to Estonia's ERR broadcast, Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur stated on the 27th (local time) that "the naval ship Lajuho has set sail to protect the Estlink-1 power cable."

Estlink-1 is a submarine power cable connecting Finland and Estonia. Its transmission capacity is 358MW, about half that of another cable, Estlink-2 (658MW), which was damaged on the 25th.

Finnish authorities have detained and are investigating the Eagle S, a New Zealand Cook Islands-registered tanker that passed nearby at the time of the Estlink-2 incident. The Eagle S is suspected to be part of the "shadow fleet" transporting Russian oil to evade sanctions.

Estonian authorities have requested not only Finland but also NATO allies to dispatch vessels to protect submarine infrastructure.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on X (formerly Twitter), "NATO will increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea."

Finnish President Sauli Niinist? also stated, "NATO and the European Union (EU) will strengthen measures against the Russian shadow fleet."

Since the Nord Stream gas pipeline was blown up in the Baltic Sea in September 2022, cutting off the transport of Russian natural gas, various incidents of damage to submarine infrastructure have occurred. The West suspects Russian sabotage, but this has not been confirmed.

In October last year, the Baltic Connector gas pipeline and communication cables were damaged, which Chinese authorities acknowledged as an accident caused by a vessel registered in Hong Kong. Regarding the communication cable damage last month, neighboring countries are investigating the involvement of the Chinese-registered vessel Yifeng 3, which departed from Russia.