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NATO to strengthen its Baltic Sea presence after new cable cutting incident

27th December 2024 - 19:17 GMT | by Tony Fyler

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The Estonian naval patrol vessel Raju. (Photo: Estonian Navy)

The vessel suspected of cutting cables has been boarded by the Finnish Coast Guard, and Estonia has launched naval protection patrols.

A new incident of damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea has raised concern at a NATO level.

The Estlink 2 electricity cable which supplied Finland’s national grid was disconnected on Christmas Day.

The vessel thought likely to be responsible was the Eagle S, flying the flag of the Cook Islands. The Cook Islands is regarded as a “flag of convenience” by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), which is recognised as the world's leading transport authority.

Flags of convenience are used to register ships in countries with a different, usually less strict, legal framework than those

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