STOCKHOLM, December 25. /TASS/. Helsinki is investigating the emergency shutdown of the EstLink 2 underwater power cable connecting Finland and Estonia, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said.

"The EstLink 2 power line between Finland and Estonia went off this afternoon. The authorities are awake on Christmas day, conducting an investigation. The outage will not affect electricity supplies to the Finnish people," he wrote on the X social media platform.

Two sets of underwater high-voltage direct current power cables connect Finland and Estonia. EstLink 1 became operational in 2007, and EstLink 2 was launched in 2014. In 2022, the EstLink 3 project was announced, with completion expected by 2035. EstLink 2 spans over 170 kilometers, with approximately 147 kilometers of the cable laid underwater along the northern part of the Gulf of Finland.

EstLink 2 was out of service in January 2024 and returned to operation only in September.