Finland is deploying naval ships to the Baltic Sea. What’s the reason behind this move?
The Finnish Navy will enhance its presence and surveillance in the Baltic Sea. A Hamina-class missile boat will be dispatched there.
This information comes from RBK-Ukraine citing the Finnish Navy.
It is noted that the deployment of Finnish vessels is part of NATO's "Baltic Watch" operation, which was announced at the meeting of NATO Baltic Sea leaders in Helsinki last week.
The mission aims to ensure the security of underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
The Finnish Navy clarified that several ships will participate in the operation over the coming months. Additionally, during January-February, a Hamina-class missile boat will be deployed as part of the NATO fleet component.
Incidents with Cables in the Baltic Sea
Recently, several incidents involving damage to underwater cables in the Baltic Sea have been recorded, which provide communication and energy transmission between countries in the region. The most significant incidents involved trunk cables between Finland and Estonia, as well as between Sweden and Lithuania. This has raised concerns among the Baltic states, as it poses a potential threat to national security.
Investigations into the damages revealed that in several cases, the cause was physical interference. This includes possible collisions with vessels or the use of specialized equipment to deliberately damage the cables.
In light of these incidents, the Baltic countries have begun to strengthen security measures at their critically important infrastructure sites. This includes increasing the number of military and civilian patrols at sea and installing monitoring systems.
The incidents have also drawn NATO's attention, which is considering enhancing monitoring of underwater infrastructure in the region.
It is worth noting that according to Yle, Finland, by stopping a Russian shadow tanker, prevented several more serious acts of sabotage. Otherwise, the vessel could have continued to damage underwater communications.