NATO

In Asia and Europe, authorities are taking action, trying to crack down on ships taking out critical subsea infrastructure. 

NATO secretary-general, Mark Rutte co-hosted a summit of Baltic Sea allies yesterday launching new military activity in the region to protect critical infrastructure following a spate of ship attacks in the Baltic on pipelines and subsea cables. 

Baltic Sentry is the name of the new NATO initiative to crack down on subsea attacks, the majority of which have been carried out by merchant ships leaving Russian ports and dragging anchors. 

Baltic Sentry will involve a range of assets, including frigates, submarines, maritime patrol aircraft, and drones. 

Rutte stressed the importance of robust enforcement. He highlighted how Finland has demonstrated that firm action within the law is possible, recently arresting the Eagle S tanker and its crew over a suspected cable attack. 

“Ship captains must understand that potential threats to our infrastructure will have consequences, including possible boarding, impounding, and arrest,” Rutte said. 

A joint statement from the heads of state or government of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden noted: “Combatting breakage of undersea cables and pipelines represents a global problem.”

The statement went …