NATO will increase its presence in the Baltic Sea in response to recent incidents involving damage to critical underwater infrastructure, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas announced.
"The exact measures will not be disclosed until they are implemented," she said during a press conference on Thursday in Tallinn.
Prime Minister Kallas commended Finland's actions in detaining the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S, suspected of damaging the Estonian-Finnish EstLink 2 power cable. According to Finnish customs, the tanker belongs to Russia’s shadow fleet.
"This is a very principled move," emphasized Kallas, adding that "other countries should act similarly, just as Finland has."The Estonian authorities are also prepared to take such actions," she said.
On December 25, Estonia's power and gas grid operator Elering reported an emergency outage of the EstLink 2 direct current cable connecting Estonia and Finland.
On December 26, Finland detained the oil tanker Eagle S under suspicion of damaging the underwater cable. A pre-trial investigation, led by the Helsinki Police Department, was initiated.
On the same day, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed the alliance's readiness to assist Estonia and Finland in protecting critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, the European Union announced plans to introduce additional restrictive measures against the Russian tanker fleet.
