NATO is planning a major operation in the Baltic Sea. According to the two public service media, the goal is to protect critical infrastructure such as wires and cables on the seabed. This is reported by both Swedish SVT and Finnish Yle.
According to Yle's sources, NATO will send approximately ten ships to the Baltic Sea, and the operation is expected to begin at the end of the week and continue until April. Unlike Yle, SVT does not give a figure on the number of ships that are believed to be participating in the operation. However, the media describes that both ships and aircraft from the member states will participate in protecting the cables.
According to SVT, Sweden is currently working to clarify which vessels the country could contribute to the operation. The Swedish Navy confirms to the Swedish media that preparations are underway, but will not go into details about the Swedish vessels that will participate in the Baltic Sea operation.
- There is work underway where we take stock of what resources Sweden has and how we can contribute to the increased availability, but there are currently no ready answers, says Jimmie Adamsson, press officer at the Swedish Navy to the media.
- It is about us being able to consistently have an increased presence at sea.
Increased attention after sabotage
Recently, critical infrastructure such as electricity and gas cables on the Baltic Sea seabed have been subjected to repeated sabotage. As recently as December, underwater power and data cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged.
In the wake of the activity in the Baltic Sea, the Finnish government has invited Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to a select NATO summit in the capital Helsinki together with the Estonian government on January 14. The Finnish government writes this in a press release.
- The meeting will discuss strengthening NATO's presence in the Baltic Sea and responding to the threat from the Russian shadow fleet, the release says.
Already at the end of December, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte wrote on the social media X that the NATO alliance would increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea. At the time, however, it was not clear how the alliance would do this more specifically.
Ritzau is working to get a comment from the Defence Command on the reports from the Nordic media.
/ritzau/
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