The return of cable cuts in the Baltic Sea worries Europe

While the world was watching the dramatic kidnapping by US forces of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, dramatic events were unfolding in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland. But with Venezuela capturing the world’s attention, few are paying attention to the Baltic Sea. This is unfortunate, because in less than a week, six submarine cables were damaged there.

After a year-long cessation of sabotage operations, it seems that the specter of cable cutting has returned. Now, with NATO preoccupied with the Greenland crisis, the question is what can Western countries do about these attacks?

In northern Europe, quite different dramas were unfolding. On December 31, a data cable connecting Finland and Estonia broke down, and it quickly became clear that it had been hit by an external object.

The Finnish and Estonian authorities identified the likely culprit among the ships sailing in the Gulf of Finland. The matter concerns the cargo ship “Vitburg”, flying the flag of “Saint Vincent” and “the Grenadines”, which was on its way from the Russian port of Saint Petersburg to Haifa in Israel, and was sailing over the cable when it stopped working.

Furthermore, Finnish authorities noticed that the ship was dragging its anchor. The pull of the anchor affects marine cables through mutual tension or friction, which may lead to corrosion, damage or breakage of the cables, especially with strong winds and currents.

In a quick operation, Finnish border guards approached the suspected vessel, which had crossed from Estonia into Finland’s economic zone, and ordered it to enter Finnish territorial waters. Finland adheres to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. As soon as the Vitborg ship crossed the territorial waters, a Finnish helicopter appeared, from which police officers disembarked and took control of the ship, which was already pulling its anchor.

The authorities detained the ship and its crew, which includes sailors from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Finnish President Alexander Stubb commented on the matter, and the police and the Customs and Border Guard held a press conference.

In October 2023, when the Chinese container ship “New Polar Bear” collided with a submarine cable and pipeline in the Gulf of Finland, it was unimaginable that the response would be so rapid and decisive. Since then, repeated cable-related incidents have made the Baltic Sea states more experienced and coordinated.

But there was something else about Vitborg’s New Year’s flight across the Gulf of Finland: a second cable was also damaged. This cable was owned by the Swedish company Arilion, one of whose cables was damaged during the New Polar Bear’s devastating voyage in October 2023. In fact, the Vitborg had been dragging its anchor for several hours when it was detained by Finnish authorities.

This did not seem accidental, especially given the enormous interest in the series of cable cuts in the Baltic Sea that began with the New Polar Bear ship.

Not knowing that a ship was dragging its anchor is not a reasonable excuse after several high-profile incidents in which crew members claimed not to know. After the oil tanker “Eagle S” cut five cables on Christmas Day 2024, the Baltic Sea countries and NATO rushed to put in place new measures. It established the “Baltic Sentinel”, which is essentially a (patrol and warning) system in the Baltic Sea. It also created the Baltic Monitor, an artificial intelligence-based surveillance system. These countries have already improved information exchange.

That seemed to work; Since the Eagle S incident in the Gulf of Finland, no anchors have been accidentally pulled across the bottom of the Baltic Sea for months. Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, NATO’s highest-ranking military officer, told the Financial Times in November 2025: “Since the Baltic Guard system began operating, nothing has happened. “This means that this deterrence is working.”

Until 2026, the problem was not limited to two cables being cut on New Year’s Eve, as three cables were damaged in the few days before that. Authorities thought this might be weather-related, but no one was sure; The weather during those days was not particularly harsh. About “Foreign Policy”

. On December 31, a data cable connecting Finland and Estonia broke down, and it soon became clear that it had been hit by an external object.

. Until 2026, the problem was not limited to two cables being cut on New Year’s Eve, three cables were damaged in the few days before that.