BRUSSELS, December 27. /TASS/. The North Atlantic Alliance will increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea because of "possible sabotage of undersea cables," NATO chief Mark Rutte wrote on his X page.

"Spoke with [Finnish President] Alexander Stubb about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables. I expressed my full solidarity and support. NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea," the secretary-general said.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas attributed responsibility for the Baltic Sea incidents to the tanker fleet transporting Russian oil, even before the investigation concluded, and vowed to impose new sanctions against it.

On December 25, Reuters reported that Finland’s police and border guards have detained an oil tanker, which flies under the flag of the Cook Islands, suspecting that an anchor of the vessel may have damaged the EstLink 2 cable.

On Wednesday, the underwater power cable, which connects Finland’s energy grid with Estonia through the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, was disconnected due to an emergency. The circumstances behind the incident are currently being established. Later, the Postimees newspaper said that Estonian companies had reported damage to three telecommunication cables between the two countries. On November 17 and 18, two cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged, one connecting Germany and Finland, and the other Sweden and Lithuania.

Two high-voltage DC submarine power cable systems connect Finland and Estonia. EstLink 1 was commissioned in 2007, followed by EstLink 2 in 2014. EstLink 3, announced in 2022, is scheduled for completion by 2035. EstLink 2 spans over 170 kilometers, with approximately 147 kilometers running underwater in the northern Gulf of Finland.

EstLink 2 was out of service in January and had its operability restored only in September.