Estonia Beefing Up Undersea Cable Repair Capabilities

Need to monitor critical infrastructure as threats grow in Baltic Sea, says minister

- Albert Wai

Estonia is looking to beef up its capabilities to repair submarine cables and monitor their security in the Baltic Sea, in the light of the growing threats to such critical infrastructure, said the country's deputy minister for maritime and water affairs.

"We are trying to develop national cable repair capabilities. We cannot be 100 per cent dependent on the private sector," Mr Kaupo Laanerand said in an interview with The Straits Times on March 26.

"This is important because even if somebody has bad intentions, they know we can repair the damage fast, and the damage to us is smaller."

The US-led Nato military alliance warned in 2023 that there is a "significant risk" Russia could target critical infrastructure in Europe or North America, including gas pipelines and internet cables, as it faces off with the West over the war in Ukraine.

On Christmas Day in 2024, a submarine cable carrying electricity between Finland and Estonia was severed in the Baltic Sea. The Finnish authorities later seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion that it had damaged the Estlink 2 cable.

At the time, the Finnish authorities suspected that the anchor of the Cook Islands-registered ship had caused the damage.