NATO said on Friday it would boost its presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage this week of an undersea power cable and four internet lines, while alliance member Estonia launched a naval operation to guard a parallel electricity link.

In a similar operation, Finland in 2023 recovered an anchor it said belonged to a Chinese container vessel suspected of damaging a gas pipeline and several fibre-optic links. The case remains under investigation. Finland has said China is cooperating with Finnish authorities in that probe.

The decision follows a spate of suspected sabotage incidents on underwater cables.

NATO will strengthen its presence in the Baltic Sea following the outage of the Estlink 2 submarine power cable, Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Friday after speaking to Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

In addition, a U.K.-led 10-member consortium of northern European nations called the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) has reactivated an AI-based system to track suspicious ships in these waters. The actions are a response to the suspected deliberate severing on Christmas Day of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable and four undersea communications cables between Finland and Estonia,

NATO plans to bolster its military presence in the Baltic Sea by deploying ships to protect underwater infrastructure in the region, according to a report by Finnish public broadcaster Yle. The operation is set to begin at the end of the week.