NATO warships start patrolling in the Baltic Sea
NATO warships have started patrolling the Baltic Sea as part of the Baltic Sentry operation. This was reported by Estonian broadcaster ERR on January 18.
It is noted that part of the patrolling ships anchored in Tallinn's Mine Harbor. The squadron is led by the Royal Netherlands Navy frigate "Tromp", which has a helicopter for air surveillance.
In addition, according to media reports, a sonar vessel capable of studying the structure of the bottom is involved in patrolling the water area.
Earlier, on January 14, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the Baltic Sentry mission. He noted that it would involve a number of assets, including frigates and maritime patrol aircraft. According to him, this will contribute to increased vigilance in the Baltic Sea.
On January 7, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported that NATO was going to send a fleet to the Baltic Sea to protect important underwater installations. According to him, it will consist of about 10 ships, and the operation itself will last until April. It was specified that the forces of the Finnish and Estonian fleets will still be involved in the protection of the Gulf of Finland.
Prior to that, the plans of the North Atlantic Alliance to strengthen the presence in the Baltic Sea to protect critical infrastructures of the water area was reported by the Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Mihal. He noted that this would be done against the backdrop of the incident with damage to the Estonian-Finnish EstLink 2 electric cable.
The EstLink 2 DC cable between Estonia and Finland suffered an emergency outage on December 25. The Estonian electricity and gas supply network operator Elering said that the cause of the incident was not known, but the reliability of the country's power supply was ensured and reserve capacities were used to compensate for the lack of electricity.
Later, Finnish police stopped the Kukapo Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S on suspicion of breaking a cable in the Baltic. As a precaution against disrupting the investigation, the Finnish police banned seven members of the tanker's crew from leaving the country, followed by the eighth.
