ABOARD THE EML SAKALA IN THE BALTIC SEA (news agencies) — As they plied the gray, icy waters of the Baltic Sea west of Russia on Thursday, the crew of the Estonian minehunter EML Sakala kept a careful eye on any vessels slowing down suspiciously or suddenly changing course.
They use binoculars and cameras with long zoom lenses, logging the names of ships, scouring them for missing anchors or trailing cables. The Sakala has approached about 200 vessels in a week at sea.
It is one of three Estonian navy ships that are part of stepped-up maritime patrols by NATO countries after the Estlink-2 power cable and communication links between Finland and Estonia were damaged Dec. 25. A month earlier, two other undersea data cables were damaged.
Suspicion immediately fell on Russia, although nothing has been proven and the Kremlin denied involvement in damaging the infrastructure, which provides power and communication for thousands of Europeans.
For the West, the incidents are a test of resolve in the face of what are believed to be widespread sabotage attacks in Europe allegedly linked to Moscow following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“The main thing is to show force,” Lt. Cmdr. Meelis Kants of the Estonian navy told media aboard the Sakala.
After the Dec. 25 incident with the Estlink 2, Finnish police and border guards seized the Eagle S, an oil tanker that had just left a Russian port, after it was suspected of cutting the power and four telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor.
The Eagle S, flagged in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, is suspected of being part of Moscow’s “shadow fleet” used to avoid sanctions on Russian oil exports, Finnish authorities said. The ship was carrying 35,000 tons of oil and investigators allege it left a drag trail with its anchor for almost 100 kilometers (62 miles) on the sea bed before it was stopped and escorted to the vicinity of a Finnish port.
The damage to the Estlink 2, which can provide about half of the electricity needs for Estonia in winter, did not disrupt service, although it did drive up energy prices in the Baltic nations.
The cable is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) long and is located at a depth of 90 meters (295 feet) at its deepest point, across one of the busiest shipping lanes in Europe. Repairs could cost tens of millions of dollars and might not be restored until late summer, said Finland’s electricity grid operator.
The undersea cables and pipelines that crisscross the sea link Nordic, Baltic and central European countries, promote trade, energy security and, in some cases, reduce dependence on Russian energy resources.
Ten Baltic Sea cables have been damaged since 2023, affecting Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Germany and Lithuania. At least two incidents involved ships later accused of dragging their anchors.
“The sea domain is currently the most contested because it’s also strategically important,” Maj. Gen. Andrus Merilo, commander of the Estonian military, told news agencies in December.
Western nations need to be “more proactive and operate to deter any activities,” he said.
The Estlink 2 disruption came just over a month after a Chinese ship, the Yi Peng 3, left the Russian port of Ust-Luga, west of St. Petersburg, shortly before it allegedly damaged cables linking Sweden and Lithuania and Finland and Germany.
The ship was stopped by the Danish navy and spent a month idled in a Danish shipping lane before resuming its journey Dec. 21 after representatives from Western nations boarded it along with Chinese investigators. No details of the inspection were released.
In October 2023, a Chinese-registered ship was suspected of severing a gas pipeline and fiber-optic cable between Finland and Estonia by dragging its anchor. That ship was not stopped and continued its journey.
Of particular interest to the naval patrols is Russia’s shadow fleet of vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to ship its oil and evade Western sanctions.
The Eagle S had multiple violations including fire safety, navigation equipment and pump room ventilation and cannot sail until repaired, according to Finnish authorities. The shipping news journal Lloyd’s List reported it previously was fitted with surveillance devices to monitor naval activity — abnormal for a merchant ship.
The Baltic Sea incidents take place against a backdrop of allegations of Russian sabotage, attacks and killings in Europe, which have increased since the invasion of Ukraine.
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