The long-range Atlantique 2 aircraft on a new mission for\u00a0NATO<\/a>\u00a0then shifted its high-tech gaze onto another target, and another after that until, after more than five hours on patrol, the plane’s array of sensors had scoped out the bulk of the Baltic \u2014 from Germany in the west to Estonia in the northeast, bordering Russia.<\/p>\n The flight\u2019s mere presence in the skies above the strategic sea last week, combined with\u00a0military ships patrolling on the waters<\/a>, also sent an unmistakable message: The NATO alliance is ratcheting up its guard against suspected attempts to sabotage underwater energy and data cables and pipelines that crisscross the Baltic, prompted by a growing catalogue of incidents that have damaged them.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will do everything in our power to make sure that we fight back, that we are able to see what is happening and then take the next steps to make sure that it doesn\u2019t happen again. And our adversaries should know this,\u201d NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte\u00a0said this month<\/a>\u00a0in announcing a new alliance mission, dubbed \u201cBaltic Sentry,\u201d to protect the underwater infrastructure vital to the economic well-being of Baltic-region nations.<\/p>\n What\u2019s under the Baltic?<\/strong><\/p>\n Power and communications cables and gas pipelines<\/a>\u00a0stitch together the nine countries with shores on the Baltic, a relatively shallow and nearly landlocked sea. A few examples are the 94-mile Balticconnector pipeline that carries gas between Finland and Estonia, the high-voltage Baltic Cable connecting the power grids of Sweden and Germany, and the 729-mile C-Lion1 telecommunications cable between Finland and Germany.<\/p>\n Why are cables important?<\/strong><\/p>\n Undersea pipes and cables help power economies, keep houses warm and connect billions of people. More than 807,800 miles of fiber optic cables \u2014 more than enough to stretch to the moon and back \u2014 span the world\u2019s oceans and seas, according to TeleGeography, which tracks and\u00a0maps<\/a>\u00a0the vital communication networks. The cables are typically the width of a garden hose. But 97% of the world\u2019s communications, including trillions of dollars of financial transactions, pass through them each day.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last two months alone, we have seen damage to a cable connecting Lithuania and Sweden, another connecting Germany and Finland, and most recently, a number of cables linking Estonia and Finland. Investigations of all of these cases are still ongoing. But there is reason for grave concern,” Rutte said on Jan. 14.<\/p>\n What’s causing alarm?<\/strong><\/p>\n At least 11 Baltic cables have been damaged since October 2023 \u2014 the most recent being a fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland, reported to have\u00a0ruptured on Sunday.<\/a>\u00a0Although cable operators note that subsea cable damage is commonplace, the frequency and concentration of incidents in the Baltic heightened suspicions that damage might have been deliberate.<\/p>\n There also are fears that Russia could target cables as part of\u00a0a wider campaign<\/a>\u00a0of so-called \u201chybrid warfare\u201d to destabilize European nations helping Ukraine defend itself against\u00a0the full-scale invasion<\/a>\u00a0that Moscow has been pursuing since 2022.<\/p>\n Without specifically blaming Russia, Rutte said: \u201cHybrid means sabotage. Hybrid means cyber-attacks. Hybrid means sometimes even assassination attacks, attempts, and in this case, it means hitting on our critical undersea infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n Finnish police suspect that\u00a0the Eagle S<\/a>, an oil tanker that damaged the Estlink 2 power cable and two other communications cables linking Finland and Estonia on Dec. 25th, is part of\u00a0Moscow\u2019s \u201cshadow fleet\u201d<\/a>\u00a0used to avoid war-related\u00a0sanctions<\/a>\u00a0on Russian oil exports.<\/p>\n Finnish authorities\u00a0seized the tanker<\/a>\u00a0shortly after it left a Russian port and apparently cut the cables by dragging its anchor. Finnish investigators allege the ship left an almost 62-mile-long anchor trail on the seabed.<\/p>\n Intelligence agencies\u2019 doubts<\/strong><\/p>\n Several Western intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of their work, told The Associated Press that recent damage was most likely accidental, seemingly caused by anchors being dragged by ships that were poorly maintained and poorly crewed.<\/p>\n One senior intelligence official told AP that ships\u2019 logs and mechanical failures with ships\u2019 anchors were among \u201cmultiple indications\u201d pointing away from Russian sabotage. The official said Russian cables were also severed. Another Western official, also speaking anonymously to discuss intelligence matters, said Russia sent an intelligence-gathering vessel to the site of one cable rupture to investigate the damage.<\/p>\n The Washington Post first reported on the emerging consensus among U.S. and European security services that maritime accidents likely caused recent damage.<\/p>\n Cable operators advise caution<\/strong><\/p>\n The European Subsea Cables Association, representing cable owners and operators, noted in November after faults were reported on two Baltic links that, on average, a subsea cable is damaged somewhere in the world every three days. In northern European waters, the main causes of damage are commercial fishing or ship anchors, it said.<\/p>\n In the fiber-optic cable rupture on Sunday connecting Latvia and Sweden, Swedish authorities detained a Maltese-flagged ship bound for South America with a cargo of fertilizer.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/4RGJ6OHOOZD6HODT7XIEZCOQWM.jpg\")
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