On Wednesday, it was announced that from January to April, the Alliance's existing ships and those that NATO member states will send for the mission will protect the most important sites in the Baltic Sea.
„We are planning to contribute to this – yes, it will be done; Lithuania will contribute certain capabilities both within the framework of this operation at sea and in terms of national operation and will also continue to maintain a heightened vigilance regime, additional surveillance and intelligence measures,“ Šakalienė told Žinių Radijas on Thursday.
„The general principle is that indeed enhanced vigilance actions will be carried out in the Baltic Sea and that additional measures will be applied in the context of our presence at sea,“ the politician explained.
After the National Security and Defence Committee (NSGK) on Wednesday, where former Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasčiūnas also announced that NATO ships will start patrolling this month, the Minister noted that she could not share any further information.
„We had closed meetings where we shared secret information, so we should not discuss the details publicly,“ Šakalienė said.
It has been announced that NATO ships that will start patrolling the Baltic Sea in January will have to monitor and track risky vessels that could pose a threat to maritime infrastructure.
The aim is to prevent Russia's „shadow fleet“, which exports oil to non-European markets and damages cables and other strategic assets in the Baltic Sea.
ELTA recalls that during the festive week, submarine electricity and telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea connecting Finland and Estonia ceased functioning.
The countries are connected by two EstLink cables, a 350 MW and a 650 MW link. On 25 December at 12.26 p.m., an accident shut down the 650 MW EstLink 2 DC link.
According to preliminary data from Finnish officials, sabotage is the main reason for the failure of the EstLink 2 link, as three other offshore cables were cut on 25 December in addition to the link. This Monday, it was reported that only the telecommunication cables were repaired.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb called on the social network „X“ to prevent the risk posed by Russian shadow fleet vessels.
In November, a similar incident was also recorded in the Baltic Sea when two telecommunication cables were severed between Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, and Germany. It is believed that the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3, which was sailing in the Baltic Sea at the time, deliberately cut them close to the incident site.
President Gitanas Nausėda has said that suspicious ships in the Baltic Sea could be monitored more closely. When they approach critical infrastructure, they could be escorted and patrolled, and technological measures could be put in place to track their actions.
Following reports of the failure of the underwater electricity link between Finland and Estonia, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kęstutis Budrys, also proposed raising the issue of imposing sanctions on the so-called Russian shadow fleet at the European Union (EU) level.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has also said that the Baltic and Scandinavian countries are working on a joint action plan to tackle threats in the region.
