Finland will host a NATO summit on January 14 in Helsinki, bringing together leaders from Baltic Sea nations to discuss maritime security following recent cable sabotage incidents.
On Christmas Day, the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged, echoing earlier incidents in the region. Experts suspect these disruptions are part of a broader hybrid conflict involving Russia.
The summit, co-hosted by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal, will focus on protecting critical underwater infrastructure and bolstering NATO’s presence in the Baltic Sea. Leaders from Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, will participate.
Finnish police are investigating the Eagle S, a Cook Island-flagged oil tanker suspected of damaging the cables. Authorities have seized the vessel and barred its crew from leaving the country. The ship’s anchor, retrieved from the seabed, is believed to have caused the damage.
NATO has pledged to enhance its maritime security in the Baltic Sea as tensions rise, with the alliance attributing the incidents to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”—aging vessels used to transport embargoed oil under questionable ownership.
Finland, which joined NATO in 2023 after abandoning decades of neutrality, remains on high alert amid growing regional threats.
