Finnish President Alexander Stubb will host a summit of the NATO countries bordering the Baltic Sea in Helsinki next Tuesday, together with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal.
The summit, which will take place at the presidential palace, will be attended by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and leaders from Germany, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.
The topic will be the security of the Baltic Sea region, in particular the measures needed to secure critical underwater infrastructure, the Finnish presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.
The discussion will focus on strengthening NATO’s presence in the Baltic Sea and responding to the threat posed by the so-called Russian shadow fleet.
The summit is in response to a series of incidents in which pipelines and cables in the Baltic Sea have been damaged by ships allegedly linked to Russia.
On Christmas Day, damage was discovered to the Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia, as well as to four communications cables, including a connection between Helsinki and Rostock that had already been severed in a previous incident in November.
The oil tanker Eagle S is suspected of deliberately causing the damage on Christmas Day.
The ship flew the flag of the Cook Islands, but according to the EU it belongs to the Russian shadow fleet.
This concerns tankers and other cargo ships that Russia uses to circumvent sanctions imposed as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, for example when transporting oil.
