Already in October 2023, a Finnish gas pipeline and two data cables connecting Sweden, Estonia, and Finland were damaged. Then, as now, a ship is suspected to have caused the damage.
In mid-November 2024, two underwater cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged, one between Finland and Germany, the other between Sweden and Lithuania.
Suspicions were directed towards Russia, which is believed to have carried out the sabotage with the help of the Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3.
In early December, two new cable breaks were discovered on internet connections between Sweden and Finland. Initially, sabotage was suspected, but this was later denied by the Finnish police.
On Christmas Day 2024, another cable break occurred. The tanker vessel Eagle S, flagged on the Cook Islands and believed to belong to the Russian shadow fleet, is suspected to have dragged an anchor for tens of kilometers on the seabed, damaging several important underwater cables between Finland and Estonia.
The Eagle S was boarded by Finnish police and military and escorted to the port of Porkala in Finland, where it is still being held.
In the following days, Estonia's defense forces announced that an operation had been launched in the Baltic Sea to protect the underwater cable Estlink 1, and the defense alliance NATO announced that its military presence in the Baltic Sea would be increased.
On January 8, Finland called a top-level meeting to discuss the suspected cable sabotage in the Gulf of Finland on Christmas Day. Finnish and Swedish media report that NATO is planning a larger naval operation in the Baltic Sea to protect cables and sea cables.
