Defense minister: NATO ships in Baltic Sea are primarily a deterrent
NATO ships arriving in the Baltic Sea to secure underwater infrastructure will primarily act as a deterrent, but they are ready to intervene if necessary, Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur (Reform) said on Tuesday.
A dozen NATO vessels will be deployed to the Baltic Sea to monitor and protect underwater infrastructure after the suspected sabotage of electricity and communications cables.
Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported the operation will begin at the end of the week. The vessels are expected to stay in the region until April.
Pevkur said the ships primarily have a deterrent effect on criminals.
"But if intervention is necessary, it is also possible to intervene. /.../ The shipping lanes in the Baltic Sea are not very wide, and it is possible to position ourselves in such a way that anyone traveling along international waters can clearly see that NATO is present," the minister said.
When asked about the speed of NATO's response, Pevkur said preparations began on the day EsLink 2 was damaged on December 25.
"If people say that NATO is slow — it is not. It may seem that way, as processes take time during peacetime. But in a crisis, everything happens very quickly. The decision to increase NATO's presence in the Baltic Sea was actually made quite soon after the incident on December 25. Our task is to ensure that nothing like that happens again in the Baltic Sea. Of course, we cannot guarantee it with absolute certainty. On our part, we have been patrolling near the EstLink 1 cable for some time now," Pevkur said.
Speaking about Estonia's ability to quickly detain a ship if necessary, as Finland did on December 26, he said it could be done and assistance would also be sought from neighboring countries if necessary.
"The answer is yes, we would respond similarly to Finland. If there is a need to use certain capabilities or request assistance from neighbors, we will do so. That is precisely the idea of NATO — one for all, and all for one — and it works even for smaller operations. /.../ No one is prepared for everything, which is why we have allies, and that is why we do these things together," the defense minister said.
On Monday, the UK-led "rapid response" Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) said it is using AI to monitor threats to undersea infrastructure from the Russian shadow fleet.
The 10-member grouping is made up of NATO members from the Baltic, Nordics, UK and the Netherlands.
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Marko Reikop, Helen Wright
Source: Ringvaade
