NATO Unveils ‘Baltic Sentry’: A Bold Initiative to Safeguard Undersea Cables

Relations between NATO nations and Russia have been escalating continuously since Russia’s comprehensive invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“There is ample reason for serious concern” regarding infrastructural damage, Rutte remarked. Additionally, he stated that NATO would respond decisively to such incidents, including increased monitoring of suspicious vessels and, if necessary, their confiscation.

He refrained from providing further specifics on the number of assets involved in the Baltic Sentry initiative, citing that this could frequently change and that he did not want to make “the adversary any more knowledgeable than they are already”.

Undersea infrastructure is vital not only for the provision of electricity but also because over 95% of internet traffic is transmitted through undersea cables, Rutte explained, noting that “1.3 million kilometers (800,000 miles) of cables secure an estimated 10 trillion-dollar worth of financial transactions each day”.

In a message on X, he declared that NATO would do “what is necessary to ensure the protection and security of our critical infrastructure and all that we cherish”.

Recently, there has been an increase in unexplained damages to undersea infrastructure in the Baltic region.

The latest incident involving undersea infrastructure occurred when an electricity cable linking Finland and Estonia was severed in late December.

A Finnish coast guard team boarded the oil tanker Eagle S – which was flying a Cook Islands flag – and directed it into Finnish waters, while Estonia dispatched a patrol vessel to safeguard its undersea power cable.

On Monday, Risto Lohi from Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation informed Reuters that the Eagle S was posing a threat to sever a second power cable and a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia at the time of its interception.

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated in December that incidents of damage to submarine infrastructure had become “so common” that it raised questions about whether these damages could be considered “accidental” or simply a result of “poor seamanship”.

Tsahkna did not directly accuse Russia. Similarly, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson mentioned on Sunday that while Sweden was not hastily jumping to conclusions or “accusing anyone of sabotage without compelling evidence”, it also was “not naive”.

“The security situation and the continuous occurrence of peculiar incidents in the Baltic Sea also lead us to conclude that hostile intentions cannot be dismissed.”

“There is scant proof that a ship would inadvertently and unnoticed… without recognizing that it could cause harm,” he stated.