Finnish authorities boarded and searched a vessel in the Baltic Sea on Thursday in a live exercise designed to demonstrate how seriously the region is taking the threat of undersea sabotage following a series of incidents involving critical infrastructure. Masked officers from the coast guard, police and armed forces fast-roped from a helicopter on to the vessel’s deck, secured the crew and swept through the ship room by room.
Coast Guard Commander Ilja Iljin, who led the exercise, said the drill reflected what Helsinki now regards as “the new normal”. “In the past two or three years we’ve had several incidents in the Baltic related to the damaging of critical underwater infrastructure,” Iljin said.
“So we have to be ready for when the next event happens.” Finland and other countries around the Baltic Sea have recorded ruptures to power cables, telecommunications lines and gas pipelines since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, fuelling concerns over the vulnerability of vital infrastructure beneath the sea.
Authorities are increasingly alert to signs that a vessel could be involved in damaging an underwater cable. Sudden changes in speed or course as a ship passes over an undersea line can be a warning sign, Iljin said. Finland’s response has become faster with each incident.
In the first suspected case, the vessel left the area before authorities could intervene, while in the most recent incident, officials brought the ship under control within hours. In a real operation, police officers on standby can reach their base within an hour before deploying by helicopter or boat, said Chief Inspector Juha Hietala of the police’s special intervention unit.
Although most incidents so far have involved vessels dragging their anchors, Finnish authorities are also preparing for more deliberate forms of sabotage, including attacks by divers, mini-submarines or remotely operated underwater vehicles carrying explosives.
The Finnish government is separately seeking new powers for the Border Guard, including the coast guard, to stop and inspect ships suspected of being stateless or sailing under false flags, as well as to intervene against unmanned underwater vehicles.