Finland will launch another initiative on Monday to strengthen the protection of submarine cables in the Gulf of Finland. It will take the form of a maritime surveillance center, the Finnish Border Guard announced.
The surveillance will contribute to the security of critically important infrastructure under the sea, it says, and other countries in the Baltic Sea region as well as the EU Commission are also involved. Denmark is among the countries, the Ministry of Public Security and Emergency Situations confirmed to Ritzau.
The head of maritime security at the Finnish Border Guard, Mikko Hirvi, tells the Reuters news agency that it is necessary to think more about prevention. This includes, for example, sensors on the seabed and the use of artificial intelligence to analyze ship traffic, he adds. However, he refuses to answer which capabilities are currently functional.
Several cable breaks cause increased security focus
In the past few years, there has been a great deal of focus on security in the Baltic Sea, where there have been several breaks in power cables, gas supply and telecommunications cables.
The countries in the Baltic Sea region suspect that Russia is behind many of the cable breaks, which are described as sabotage. Several of the cable breaks have been linked to the Russian shadow fleet, which consists of older ships with inadequate insurance agreements and which sail under flags other than the Russian one.
To address the cable breaks, the defense alliance NATO has increased its presence in the Baltic Sea with warships, aircraft and drones. This is happening with the "Baltic Sentry" operation, which was launched in January 2025.
Many of the cable breaks in the Baltic Sea have occurred in the Gulf of Finland. This was also the case on December 31, 2025, when a data cable between the capital of Finland, Helsinki, and the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, was damaged.
The authorities shortly after seized the cargo ship "Fitburg" on suspicion of sabotage. The ship sailed under the flag of the Caribbean island state of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It was on its way from Saint Petersburg in Russia and was heading for Haifa in Israel when it was stopped by the Finnish authorities. Finnish police announced on January 12 that the investigations into the ship had been completed and that the ship was therefore released.
/ritzau/Reuters
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