“We are following the investigations conducted by… Estonia i Finland i we are ready to provide further assistance“- he assured Mark Rutte after meeting with the Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal. The topic of the meeting was “possible sabotage” of telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea. An unexpected failure of the EstLink 2 cable occurred on Wednesday at noon.
When the power transmission via the EstLink 2 power bus is interrupted, in the area of the cable the tanker Eagle S was presentflying the flag of, but belonging to, the Cook Islands Russian “shadow fleet”. After refueling with several dozen thousand liters of Russian gasoline, the unit ran from St. Petersburg towards the ports of Egypt. On Thursday Finnish authorities boarded the tanker. Eagle S, detained by a border guard patrol vessel, is in the waters of the Gulf of Finland.
Cable damage in the Baltic Sea. The European Commission reacts
Ursula von der Leyenchairwoman European Commissionpraised Finland's “quick action”. “Yesterday's incident in the Baltic Sea highlights the threats to EU infrastructure,” she wrote on social media. “Together we will increase our collective protection European critical infrastructureincluding submarine cables.
As she informed European Commissionthe suspicious ship is part of Russia's shadow fleet that poses a threat to security and the environment at the same time finances Russia's war budget. “We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to hit this fleet,” she said. According to the EC, there is currently no threat to the security of electricity supplies in the region.
President Latvia Edgars Rinkevics called for “the protection of critical infrastructure to become one of the key missions NATO in the Baltic Sea and regional tasks.” “Damage to undersea cables between Finland and Estonia is probably not a coincidence, to say the least“- he announced.