Finnish president announces tough measures against Russia's 'shadow fleet' following Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit
HELSINKI. Jan 14 (Interfax) - President of Finland Alexander Stubb has presented to the press ten provisions of an agreement reached at the Baltic Sea NATO Allies Summit focused on the strengthening of the region's security on Tuesday.
"We will increase NATO presence in the Baltic Sea, we will continue to improve the use of modern technology in sussing out activity in the Baltic Sea and on infrastructure," Stubb said.
The NATO members in the Baltic region will take tough measures against Russia's "shadow fleet", he said.
The Baltic countries "will continue to act robustly when critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea is in danger," he said.
The launch of the NATO Baltic Sentry project on Tuesday is aimed at ensuring the security of the Baltic Sea infrastructure, Stubb said. Various vessels, aircraft and drones are used to monitor both navigation and underwater operations.
"The actual activity or action when the situation happens is national, the overall coordination is NATO," Stub said.
The Baltic countries will also convene an expert group on legal issues to look for ways to prevent the hybrid influence at sea in accordance with the international maritime legislation.
In addition, NATO will monitor the infrastructure and vessels suspected of being involved in "the shadow fleet" using new technologies. NATO will also cooperate with private companies.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen, and the leaders of the eight NATO allies from the Baltic region, namely, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden, took part in the meeting.
The meeting was convened at the NATO's initiative after Finland had detained the Eagle S tanker flying the flag of the Cook Islands in the Gulf of Finland on suspicion of damaging the Estonia-Finland power cable and four international telecommunications cables. The authorities of Finland said they believe that the tanker was presumably part of Russia's "shadow fleet."
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