Tag Archives: sabotage undersea cables

The Undeclared War in the Baltic

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In January 2025, NATO launched the operation, dubbed Baltic Sentry, after a string of undersea cables and pipelines were damaged by ships—many with links to Russia—that had dragged their anchors.  “We are functioning as security cameras at sea,” said Kockx, the Belgian commander, whose usual duty is clearing unexploded mines from the busy waterway… New undersea drones are keeping a watchful eye on pipes and cables. NATO surveillance planes from the U.S., France, Germany and occasionally the U.K. take turns scanning the seaway from high above. NATO has also strengthened its military presence on the Baltic…NATO’s goal is to prevent more damage to subsea infrastructure and respond faster if something occurs…

The Baltic, a central theater in two world wars, is littered with wrecks and explosives that still pose danger. Surrounding NATO members are world leaders in finding and disposing of sea mines, officials say….Commercial traffic on the Baltic ranks among the world’s densest, with more than 1,500 ships plying its waves on any day, so policing it all is difficult. Further complicating NATO’s sentry duty initially was a lack of comprehensive information about all the critical infrastructure snaking across the sea’s muddy bottom. Details of pipes and cables have traditionally been kept by national governments or private companies. Nobody had a picture of everything...NATO’s new undersea infrastructure center in 2024 assembled the first unified map of the Baltic’s floor.

Excerpt from Daniel Michaels, How NATO Patrols the Sea for Suspected Russian Sabotage, Mar. 31, 2025

The Shadow War: Cutting Underwater Data Cables

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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) mounted its first coordinated response to the suspected sabotage campaign against critical infrastructure, after another underwater data cable was severed in the Baltic Sea in 2025. NATO vessels raced to the site of a damaged fiber-optic cable in Swedish waters on January 26, 2025 where a trio of ships carrying Russian cargo, including one recently sanctioned by the U.S., were nearby. All three vessels are now being investigated as part of a probe into suspected sabotage of the fiber optic cable.

The incident is the latest in a string of alleged underwater attacks in the region that prompted NATO to announce earlier this month the formation of a surveillance mission called Baltic Sentry. It includes regular naval patrols, as well as enhanced drone, satellite and electronic surveillance of Baltic areas that are crisscrossed by critical infrastructure such as data and power cables, along with gas pipelines and offshore wind farms…Under international maritime law, a ship in international waters is under the jurisdiction of the country of its registration and can be boarded by foreign enforcement officials only with explicit permission of its owner or flag country. The captain of the Pskov, one of the ships suspected to have cut the undersea cables, cited the international law of the sea when he argued against an official request to steer his ship into a port in Finland…

In December 2024, Finland detained a vessel called Eagle S, an oil tanker belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet that is registered in the Cook Islands, on suspicion that it had deliberately used its anchor to cut a power cable connecting Finland and Estonia. In a midnight raid, Finnish special forces dropped from a helicopter onto the deck of Eagle S and captured the ship and its crew, which have since been detained in a Finnish port. 

In November 2024, an investigation was launched against a Chinese bulk carrier called Yi Peng 3, which cut two data cables in the Baltic after dragging its anchor for several hours, according to investigators. The vessel was loaded with Russian fertilizer. The probe continues. 

Excerpt from Bojan Pancevski, Suspected Sabotage of Deep-Sea Cable Triggers First NATO-Led Response, WSJ, Jan. 27, 2025