HELSINKI: NATO will discuss damage to a gas pipeline and data cable running between member states Finland and Estonia, and will mount a "determined" response if a deliberate attack is proven, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday (Oct 11).
A view of the Balticconector pipeline as it is pulled into the sea in Paldiski, Estonia in an undated handout photo taken in 2019.
"If it is proven to be a deliberate attack on NATO-critical infrastructure, then this will be, of course, serious, but it will also be met by a united and determined response from NATO."on the seabed beside the damaged pipeline and that it was reviewing the movements of vessels in the area at the time of the rupture.
The pipeline runs between Inkoo in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia across the Gulf of Finland, part of the Baltic Sea which stretches eastward into Russian waters and ends at the port of St Petersburg.NATO defence ministers will discuss the damage on Thursday when they gather for a second day of meetings in Brussels, Finnish defence minister Antti Hakkanen told reporters late on Wednesday.
Those larger gas pipelines were damaged by explosions that authorities have said were caused by sabotage. President Sauli Niinisto and other officials were briefed on Wednesday and preparedness levels raised at critical infrastructure facilities, the Finnish government said. Meanwhile, Norway and Lithuania moved to tighten security at onshore energy installations."It can clearly be seen that these damages are caused by quite heavy force," Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told Reuters, with possible causes including"mechanical impact or mechanical destruction".
The pipeline, encased in concrete for protection, looks like"someone tore it on the side", Estonian Navy Commander Juri Saska told public broadcaster ERR."The concrete has broken, or peeled off, specifically at that point of injury."