What NATO patrols in the Baltic Sea see after cutting the cables below the surface

On the bridge of the Estonian warship, Sakala, a crew in a patrol moves a camera, enlargement in an oil tanker filled with 300 meters in the Gulf of Finland.

Maritime experts consider the carrier, which left a Russian port heading to Egypt, is a member of the Shadow Fleet in Moscow – old tankers are often with dark property trying to overcome international sanctions.

While the eight NATO countries adjacent to the Baltic Sea are at a state of high alert after a series of sea power and Internet cables that have been suspiciously cut, the shadow fleet in Russia is receiving additional attention.

“We are here to guard our waters.” Meelis Kans in an interview with CBC News on Wednesday.

“If the ships are doing something really suspicious, we will stop them.”

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Sakala, which is Mongontter, is one of the three Estonian ships that were sent to patrols in the Baltic Sea near the mouth of the Gulf of Finland and near the location of two cables of the underwater power that connects Estonia to Finland.

One was cut on December 25 last year, along with four internet cables.

At the time, the third accident was in five weeks when the sea cables were damaged – and doubts were concentrated about the ships connected to Russia.

Since then, Estonia and Finland have strengthened their patrols, along with NATO, which sent frigates, planes and aircraft aircraft to the area as part of the operation. Baltic bayli.

While investigations into damaged cables are still ongoing, and there appears to be a divided opinion on whether accidents are accidental or sabotage, NATO countries are concerned enough to intensify monitoring in order to protect critical infrastructure.

In the case of Estonia, the navy patrols by searching for suspicious activity, such as anomalous cases with anchors and where it is supposed to be placed. Other red flags include whether the ship changes quickly or ignores radio connections.

There are no problems since the patrols started

Over the past two months, the crew in Sakala said they have looked at 50 possible activities. But when accurate inspection, there were no problems.

On the day before the crew assuming the media including CBC News on Patrol, they said they started watching a ship after they noticed something wrapped around its anchor. It turns out to be a hose.

Sakala communicate with the ship and shade until the hose was removed.

There was no problem in this case, and they have not faced any threat procedures in the past two months.

“We don’t see anything suspicious happening, so this is really good,” Kans said.

“But if we are not here, I do not know what will happen.”

The Baltic Sea extends from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Denmark, and is one of the most busy shipping corridors in the world.

Every week, 500-600 crossings of the Gulf of Finland. Their attitudes are tracked, but what happens below the surface is more blurry, and why the NATO countries try to deter any threats against the cables below the sea at the sea floor.

Decisive cables

The cables extend to the world’s oceans and seas in the world, extending together 1.5 million kilometers all over the world.

Victory communications cables are referred to as the fiber in the name of the spine of the Internet, which carry 95 percent of the world’s data.

While between 150-200 cables Each year is damaged by the anchors, fishing, and even environmental factors such as submarine landslides, the fact that there are three accidents in the same area during a relatively short period of time that raised doubts.

“Is it intended or is it an accident? It is difficult to answer,” said Captain Johann Eilan Siljama, Astonia’s deputy commander in Estonia.

“But the truth is that before those (recent incidents), there was no harm in this size and in those areas.”

Before cutting the cables on December 25, there were two separate accidents slightly more than a month ago.

The Internet cable was affected by 218 km between Lithuania and the Gotland Island in Sweden on November 17. The next day, the 1,200 km cable connecting the Finnish capital to Hilsenki to the German port of Rostock was cut off.

At that time, doubts focused on the Chinese bulk transport company, Yi Ping 3Who was carrying Russian fertilizers.

While China initially allowed investigators from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark on the ship, Swedish officials later said that China did not respond to the government’s request that the public prosecutor be able to conduct a preliminary investigation on the plane.

The ship finally left for Egypt.

The anchor was withdrawn for a distance of 100 km

After cutting the next series of cables on December 25, Finnish investigators seized Eagle S, an oil tanker suspected of being part of the shadow fleet in Russia.

The Finnish police said that an anchor was later recovered, and was suspected of beating about 100 km along the sea floor.

Siljama has said since Russia has been widely invaded to Ukraine in 2022 and the sanctions that followed, the movement of the ship they see in the Gulf of Finland has changed.

He says that there are now older ships with more experience crews, but even, he says he does not know how to accidentally draw the anchor for a distance of 100 km.

“I don’t think you cannot feel it or discover it,” he said.

Russia denied sabotaging cables, describing them as “ridiculous” against the background The explosions are Nord’s stream In 2022, which harmed the gas pipelines that ran between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea.

While the official investigation of the Nord Stream has not been launched publicly, many of them Media, Including Wall Street JournalI mentioned that a group of Ukrainian citizens were behind the explosion.

In the aftermath of this incident, Dmitry Medvedev, Vice -President of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, to caution “The complicity of Western countries” means that Russia “does not have restrictions” and can destroy at sea communication cables in the West.

Doubts about the deliberate damage

After damaging the cables late last year, European Union He said it’s the latest in a series of attacks on critical infrastructure.

But two media reports recently raised doubts that the actions were deliberate.

The Washington Post reports and Associated Press said both officials whose name was not revealed, who said the evidence indicated an accident, not sabotage.

At the end of January, Kabul was subjected between Latvia and Sweden to damage and a Bulgarian ship was under investigation, but Swedish officials decided that it was Do not sabotage.

Last week. Russia said it had discovered that one of its cables in the Baltic Sea had been damaged because of what officials called an “external influence.”

On board Sakala in Estonia, officials are keen on their words. They do not directly accuse Russia of sabotaging cables, but they make it clear that they look at the country as a threat.

They say whether the ship is acting suspiciously and will not respond to radio calls, Seljamaa says it will respond, including by force.

But Michael Blancit, chief marine analyst in the United Kingdom in Jenns, an open source international intelligence company, says recognition of suspicious activity may be something, but the response to a ship in international waters is another.

“Are they able to stop it? Can they be riding it? If it is in international waters, it is in somewhat fragile legal case,” Plangate said in an interview with Zoom CBC News.

But he says that improved patrols alone are likely to have an effect.

“He sends a message that NATO is aware of the potential threat and will try to deter more vicious attempts to sabotage.”