“The purpose is to ensure that all Member States will be sharing their capabilities, information, and tools to enable us to better protect and improve our critical connections together,” the prime minister explained. He added that various different opportunities in NATO as well as in the EU must also be taken advantage of, in addition to regional cooperation.
“It is not possible to prevent all of the threats to our underwater infrastructure. It is, however, important to be prepared for the threats to reduce the potential negative economic impact for our people,” he added. The proposal was also approved by the allies in the joint statement published after the summit. Estonia has already concluded a similar cooperation agreement bilaterally with Finland.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also announced at the summit the deterrence operation Baltic Sentry launched in the end of last week, which involves the reinforcement of the NATO presence on the Baltic Sea.
“Currently, the vessels of the allies are set to remain on the Baltic Sea until Spring. What happens further depends on the risk assessment,” said Michal after the summit. “This is an important signal to our opponents to refrain from planning hostile activities against our infrastructure.”
According to the prime minister, further disruption of the activity of the shadow fleet was also discussed, with European Union sanctions being one of the tools. “We are looking for opportunities for sanctioning vessels, in addition to businesses and natural persons. This means that no services would be provided to these vessels in the European Union and they would not be done business with in this region.”
The summit of Baltic Sea allies in Helsinki was co-hosted by the President of Finland Alexander Stubb and the Prime Minister of Estonia Kristen Michal.
In addition to the hosts, the Summit was attended by the NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen, Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, and Executive Vice-President of the European Commission Henna Virkkunen.
Gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tpkanslia/albums/
Joint statement of the Summit (in English): https://www.presidentti.fi/joint-statement-of-the-baltic-sea-nato-allies-summit/
