Estonia navy to protect undersea power link after main cable damaged

Nato has said it will increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea, and Estonia has sent a submarine to protect the Estlink1 undersea power line, after Russia was accused of destroying its main link in the Gulf of Finland.

The tanker Eagle S is believed to have damaged the Estlink 2 cable and the Finnish Coast Guard boarded the tanker and drove it into Finnish waters.

The EU said the Eagle S was part of a “Russian fleet” and that the failure of the submarine cable was “Recently on the list of the most important development threats”.

Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said Raju left on Friday and believed Finland would join the effort to secure the remaining cable.

He told Estonian public radio that Raju’s job was to “make sure that nothing is happening there and that our difficult relationship with Finland still works”.

The Kremlin has refused to comment on the damage to the cable, describing it as a “very narrow issue” and not a matter for the Russian leadership.

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said on social media that he had spoken with the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, adding that Nato will expand its presence in the Baltic. Another statement of the alliance says that “NATO will remain vigilant and will continue to provide additional support”.

Finland and Estonia are both Nato members and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal told public TV that, if necessary, she would invoke Article 4 of the Nato Treaty, which covers negotiations if any country wants to be threatened.

“Our goal would be to receive reinforcements from Nato in the form of ships to act as deterrents,” he said with the news agency BNS.

Electricity in Estonia was severely reduced as its 170km (105-mile) Estlink 2 line was shut down.

In its preliminary assessment on Thursday, Finland’s Fingrid company said the cable renovation would be completed by the end of July 2025.

The sinking of Estlink 2 is the third incident in less than a month in the Baltic Sea.

Last month, two data lines were cut: the Arelion line between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania on November 17, and then the C-Lion 1 line was damaged between the Finnish capital, Helsinki, and the German port of Rostock.

A Chinese submarine, the Yi Peng 3, is believed to have pulled anchor on the cables in an attempt to damage Russia.

In October 2023, a Chinese ship blew up an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia.

The Yi Peng 3 and Eagle S are both believed to be among the tankers Russia is using to evade Western sanctions imposed since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The EU said it was working on measures including sanctions targeting “Russian shadow vessels, which pose a security and environmental threat”.

After weeks of being stuck in the Kattegat River between Sweden and Denmark, the Chinese ship was boarded by officials from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Finland, but left last week.

In contrast, the Finnish authorities said that they boarded the Eagle S that was registered in the Cook Islands in the early hours of Thursday and was escorted to the Finnish coast in Porkkala, across the Gulf of Finland from Tallinn.

“Our patrol boat went to the area and noticed that the ship’s anchor was missing,” Markku Hassinen, deputy head of the Finnish Border Guard, told reporters.

The Prime Minister of Estonia wanted to assure Estonians on Thursday that they will continue to have safe electricity.

The two largest energy companies, Elering and Eesti Energia, had different storage and power plants, they told the media.

However, he added that it is not possible to protect every square meter of the ocean floor all the time.