Underwater monitoring of the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea will be intensified this autumn, Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) told the Uutissuomalainen news group on Tuesday. That follows the suspected sabotage of the Balticconnector fossil gas pipeline and a telecommunications cable between Finland and Estonia in the early hours of 8 October.
Häkkänen’s comments appeared shortly before the Swedish government announced on Tuesday evening that a Baltic Sea telecom cable connecting Sweden with Estonia had been damaged at roughly the same time.
Swedish Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said that the damage occurred outside of Sweden’s exclusive economic zone, and the cable had continued to function in spite of it.
"We can't say at the moment what caused this damage," Bohlin told a press conference. "But what we can say is that this damage has happened at a similar time and in physical proximity ... to the damage that was previously reported to a gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland and a telecommunications cable between Estonia and Finland."
Häkkänen discussed rupture with Stoltenberg
Earlier, Häkkänen said that he discussed the 8 October Balticconnector incident with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the defence ministers of the United States, Britain, Germany, Sweden and the other Nordic countries.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has also held talks on the matter with Stoltenberg, who promised Nato support to determine the cause of the ruptures. Finnish and Estonian officials have also been working closely together on the investigation.
Häkkänen said that enhanced monitoring would be supervision is to prevent sneaky work on gas pipes and telecommunication cables in advance.
According to Häkkänen, efficiency is to be stepped up through more high-tech monitoring solutions such as sensors.
Finnish officials have said that the damage to the subsea pipeline and telecommunications cable may have been a deliberate act.
The EU and Nato have become increasingly concerned about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure around and under the Baltic Sea since explosions in September 2022 ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines near Bornholm, Denmark, under the western part of the Baltic.
Estonia has been a Nato member since 2004, while Finland joined the alliance last spring. Sweden applied at the same time as Finland last year, but its bid has been blocked by Hungary and Turkey.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained in this article. You can comment on this article until 23:00 on 18 October.