1 day agoEstonia and the other Baltic States believe Russia is likely trying to test/punish them for their decision to completely decouple from the Russian energy grid in February. Estonian PM @KristenMichalPM says nothing can deter this. "Russia is not a reliable partner," he says
1 day agoFinnish Pres @alexstubb says no malign actor wanna-be should have any doubt: "Finns will act." The seizure of the Eagle S shadow-fleet tanker will now "be a benchmark we should follow", says Estonian PM @KristenMichalPM following talks of Baltic Sea leaders
Rutte says stepped-up action in the Baltic Sea "cannot wait for some summit" (like that in his home country in June). He says NATO will get "Baltic Sentry" up and running in the next couple of months
Rutte says the "alliance will not accept" these kind of hybrid attacks any more. "We will fight back," he emphasizes. "When it comes to kinetic warfare we are safe," he says, "but my biggest fear is that in 4 or 5 years we are not."
1 day agoAfter talks in Helsinki, NATO chief Mark Rutte announces the launch of "Baltic Sentry", a new alliance initiative under the command of SACEUR Cavoli to increase surveillance and controls on ships traveling through NATO and international waters
1 day agoEstonian Prime Minister @KristenMichalPM says Estonian officials have been regularly boarding ships passing through their waters to see if they're carrying proper insurance. He says many of are ticking environmental bombs
1 day agoFollowing a meeting among Baltic Sea leaders and NATO chief Rutte, Finnish President @alexstubb lists a number of results, including more ships in a NATO patrol and a primer for other countries on how Helsinki navigated the December seizure of the Eagle S so others may follow
5 day agoA Panama-flagged oil tanker, the “Eventin,” became disabled north of Rügen island in the Baltic Sea, carrying 99,000 tons of oil. No environmental threat or danger to the crew. It was en route from Ust-Luga (Russia) to Port Said (Egypt). Tow operation underway
The Panamanian-flagged oil tanker "Eventin" (274m long and 48m wide) has gotten immobile off the Baltic Sea island of Rügen (Germany). The ship carries 99,000 tonnes of oil. According to Greenpeace, it is part of Russia's Shadow Fleet
2 week agoFinnish Police confiscates the Eagle S tanker and it is currently being moved to Kilpilahti oil harbor in Porvoo with the help of tugs. Transfer operation has started on Saturday around 10:50 am
2 week agoRussian-linked tanker 'Eagle S' suspected of cutting undersea energy cables between NATO members Finland and Estonia now also suspected of: a) carrying sanction busting Russian oil ('Shadow Fleet') and b) being used as a covert intelligence ship
Mark Rutte: Spoke with @alexstubb about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables. I expressed my full solidarity and support. NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea
Finnish authorities said Thursday that they were investigating an oil tanker that sailed from a Russian port for the "sabotage" of a power cable linking Finland and Estonia that was damaged the previous day
2 week agoFinnish Police Readiness Unit and BG SOF boarded the ship suspected to be responsible for cutting the cable between Finland and Estonia last night. Investigation is on going
2 week agoPresident of Finland Alexander Stubb: I received a briefing on the cable breach in the Gulf of Finland from Police Chief Ilkka Koskimäki, Head of the Central Criminal Police Robin Lardot and Deputy Head of the Border Guard Markku Hassinen. Our authorities have investigated the events in an efficient manner. We closely monitored the situation yesterday with PMI @PetteriOrpo. We must be able to prevent the risks posed by ships belonging to the Russian shadow fleet
Prime Minister of Finland: "The Estlink 2 electricity transmission connection [undersea power cable] between Finland and Estonia has been disconnected this afternoon. Authorities are still on standby over Christmas and are investigating the matter. The interruption of the transmission connection will not affect the electricity supply of Finns."
Chairman of Foreign Affairs Committee of Estonian Parliament: If the assumption is true that the outage of the Estonia-Finland electricity connection EstLink2 is caused by interference from a vessel that has passed over the field, NATO member states should quickly consult on further actions. Closing the Baltic Sea to vessels flying certain flags should not be ruled out.
Finnish border guards offshore patrol boat Turva next to Eagle S, turned on AIS moments ago
Estonia sanctioned another 14 Georgian authorities, including Prime Minister Kobakhidze
German Defense Minister: Russia Shows Increased Presence in Baltic Sea
Finnish Police is not investigating cable cut as possible sabotage. One cable cut was an accident, made by an excavator, details on the other aren't known yet
Finland said it was investigating the causes of two separate breaches of land-based fiber-optic cables in the Nordic country, the latest in a series of telecoms infrastructure outages to affect the Baltic Sea region
Gabrielius Landsbergis, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania announced on December 1, that three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania “jointly agreed to impose national sanctions against those who suppressed legitimate protests in Georgia.”
1 month agoSwedish authorities have reason to suspect that the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 deliberately dragged its anchor on the seabed for kilometers in order to damage the submarine cables between Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania
A DHL cargo plane flying from Germany to Lithuania crashed early Monday near the airport of the capital Vilnius killing one person, firefighters said
DHL cargo plane crashes in Lithuania, killing 1, local officials say
1 month agoA Swiftair 737-400 operated for DHL crashed in a residential area short of the runway while attempting to land in Vilnius this morning at approximately 03:30 UTC
1 month agoThere was a plane crash near Vilnius. The plane belonging to the DHL company crashed into a two-story residential building on Žirnių Street in the capital of Lithuania and caught fire. Initial information indicates that there were four people on board: two pilots and two employees of the company.
DHL cargo plane crashes near Vilnius airport
1 month agoYi Peng 3 is being detained in Danish waters by the looks of it
