Estonia begins patrols to protect power cables with Finland

This handout picture released by The Finnish Border Guard on December 26, 2024 shows a Finnish Border Guard’s ship Turva (front) and the oil tanker Eagle S on the sea near Porkkalanniemi. – Finnish authorities said on December 26, 2024 that they were investigating an oil tanker that sailed from a Russian port for the “sabotage” of a power cable linking Finland and Estonia that was damaged the previous day. (Photo by Handout / Finnish Border Guard / AFP)

Tallinn, Estonia — Estonia has begun naval patrols to protect an undersea cable supplying electricity from Finland following suspected sabotage of another one on Christmas Day, Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said Friday.

“We’ve decided to send our navy close to Estlink 1 to defend and secure our energy connection with Finland,” he posted on X.

In a separate statement, Pevkur said Tallinn wanted to send a clear message that it was ready to protect its power connections with Finland with both military and non-military means.

He said Estonia was in touch with both Finland and NATO over this.

The Estlink 2 submarine cable was disconnected from the grid on Wednesday, just over a month after two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.

Finnish authorities said Thursday that they were investigating an oil tanker that sailed from a Russian port over suspected “sabotage”.

The Eagle S vessel, which flies under the flag of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, was en route to Port Said in Egypt.

“The assumption at the moment is that it is a shadow fleet vessel and the cargo was unleaded petrol loaded in a Russian port,” Sami Rakshit, director general of Finnish Customs, said on Thursday.

The shadow fleet refers to ships that transport Russian crude and oil products that are embargoed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Police suspect that the oil tanker’s anchor might have damaged the power cable.

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on Thursday that dragging an anchor on the seafloor can hardly be considered an accident.

“The damages to critical underwater infrastructure have become so frequent that it’s hard to believe they are accidents or just bad maritime manoeuvres,” he added.