Estonia has launched a naval operation to protect the Estlink 1 undersea power cable in the Baltic Sea, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on Friday. Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur also invoked Article 4 of NATO, but said that he could not get there if the allied countries or the European Command respond to requests for assistance for the protection of maritime infrastructure criticism
The announcement came after Finland on Thursday seized a vessel suspected of being part of Russia’s “ghost fleet” in the Baltic Sea on suspicion of causing an outage of the submarine power cable on Wednesday. Estlink 2 connecting Finland and Estonia and that he also damaged or broke four internet cables.
“If there is a threat to critical underwater infrastructure in our region, there will be a response,” Tsahkna wrote on the X platform.
“We decided on Thursday evening together with the commander of the defense forces to launch a naval operation this morning, the ship Raju of the Estonian Navy has already departed to protect EstLink 1,” Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur told a radio station on Friday. according to the publication err.ee.
“We are doing this to ensure that nothing happens here and that our essential link with Finland remains operational,” he added.
Estonia invokes Article 4 of NATO
Pevkur immediately contacted the Finnish defense minister after the Estonian government meeting on Thursday and proposed that Estonia and Finland guard EstLink 1 together.
“Not only with Finland, but with all our allies, really. The Finns are discussing it today and I think they will join us. Also, we agreed on Thursday that NATO will engage militarily. The Commander of the Defense Forces will call the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) today,” he said.
Pevkur said that further developments are a military and tactical matter, and it may not be necessary to discuss whether it involves Article 4 consultations or the conclusion of bilateral agreements.
- ARTICLE 4 of NATO affirms that the member countries “will consult whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of them is threatened”. It comes before the key provision in the NATO Treaty, Article 5, which states that an attack on one member country is an attack on all.
“For us, the speed of reaction is crucial. If the SACEUR and the commander of the defense forces reach an agreement, a solution could be, for example, the deployment of Swedish forces here. Or it could be Germany, Poland or someone else. Through bilateral relations, we can find solutions faster than waiting for NATO in general,” said the Estonian Defense Minister.
At the same time, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe also has the authority to independently deploy NATO naval groups.
“These activities have been ongoing since Thursday, and I believe that we can ensure the functionality of EstLink 1 in cooperation with our allies,” said Pevkur.
Finland seized a ship from Russia’s ‘ghost fleet’.
The Finnish authorities approached and took them on Thursday A ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea is suspected of having cut the underwater power cable Estlink 1 connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier and also damaged or broken four internet lines, Reuters notes.
The vessel registered in the Cook Islands, named Eagle S, was boarded by a Finnish coast guard crew who took command and took it into Finnish waters.
“We are investigating a serious sabotage. According to our information, an anchor of the investigated vessel caused the damage,” said Robin Lardot, director of Finland’s National Investigation Office.
Finnish customs said it had seized the vessel’s cargo and that the Eagle S was believed to belong to Russia’s so-called “ghost fleet”, made up of old oil tankers trying to evade sanctions by selling them of Russian oil.
Two fiber optic cables of the Finnish operator Elisa linking Finland to Estonia were broken, while a third link between the two countries, owned by China’s Citic, was damaged, the Finnish transport agency and communications Traficom said.
A fourth internet cable connecting Finland and Germany and belonging to the Finnish group Cinia was also cut, the agency said.
Mark Rutte: NATO is ready to provide additional support
“We are coordinating closely with our allies and we stand ready to support their investigations,” said a spokesman for the US National Security Council, adding that the incident underscored the need for closer international cooperation to protect critical submarine infrastructure.
“We are following the investigations by Estonia and Finland and are ready to provide additional support,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said in a post on X.
The Finnish and Estonian governments held extraordinary meetings on Thursday to assess the situation.
Baltic Sea countries are on high alert for possible acts of sabotage following a series of disruptions to power cables, telecommunications links and gas pipelines starting in 2022, although underwater equipment is also subject to failures and technical accidents.
Tensions have risen around the Baltic Sea since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
A series of underwater explosions damaged the Nord Stream pipelines that carry Russian gas to Europe in September 2022, but the cause of the explosions has not yet been determined.
An undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship damaged it in October 2023.
