Sweden will participate in a NATO operation in the Baltic Sea to protect subsea cables, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced at a press conference.
“Sweden, as a new NATO member, will contribute three warships and one surveillance aircraft,” said Kristersson.
NATO is ramping up its efforts to safeguard infrastructure in the Baltic Sea after several subsea cables were recently damaged, with allies suspecting acts of sabotage.
A total of 10 ships will take part in the new operation to protect the cables.
Initially, there was no official information on the operation from NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.
“The fact that strange things continue to happen in the Baltic Sea suggests hostile intentions that cannot be ruled out,” Kristersson stated.
“Sweden and its neighbors will no longer tolerate this,” he added.
A subsea power cable running between Finland and Estonia, along with several other communication cables, were damaged in the Gulf of Finland at the end of December.
Finnish investigators suspect the tanker Eagle S, which was sailing under the flag of the Cook Islands, intentionally caused the damage and are investigating the potential for sabotage.
