NATO member Estonia is deploying warship in the Baltic Sea after Russia reportedly cut another submarine cable

NATO member Estonia has deployed a warship to defend its undersea power cables after a Russian ship reportedly severed one of the cables in another act of sabotage against the allied nations.

Estonian and NATO leaders said they would step up their naval patrols in the Baltic Sea region in response to the Russian fuel tanker Eagle S reportedly anchoring on Christmas Day to intercept the Estlink-2 power cable connecting members Finland and Estonia connects, deliberately severing.

The Finnish Coast Guard took the Russian ship into custody and reached the port of Kilpilahti in Porvoo over the weekend.

Investigators have discovered anchor drag marks along the seabed, allegedly caused by Eagle S’s antics.

Finnish police chief investigator Sami Paila said the markings continued for dozens of miles, “if not, almost 62 miles” along the Baltic Sea’s seabed.

“Our current understanding is that the drag mark in question is that of the Eagle S ship’s anchor. We were able to clarify this matter through underwater research,” Paila told Finnish TV channel Yle.

Finnish officials described the Eagle S as one of the ships used as part of the Kremlin’s “shadow fleet” of fuel tankers to carry out acts of sabotage against the West.

Officials from Finland and the European Union said the Russian ships were all obsolete vessels with unclear ownership, acquired solely for the purpose of evading Western sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

The disruption of the Estlink-2 line comes just a month after European nations accused another Russian ship of destroying the 135-mile internet cable connecting NATO members Sweden to Lithuania and the 700-mile telecommunications cable connecting Finland to the Germany’s ally, to have severed it.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned that the attacks on submarine cables in the Baltic Sea were not isolated incidents but “part of a pattern of deliberate and coordinated actions to damage our digital and energy infrastructure.”

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, whose country joined NATO in 2023 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had previously suggested that her country and the other countries were directly in Moscow’s sights because of the war.

The affected nations are all members of NATO and the European Union, the latter of which has provided more than $168 billion in defense aid to Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly rejected the European leaders’ allegations, saying the sabotage reports were faked to damage Russia’s reputation.

With post wires