The Estonian minister of justice and digital affairs Liisa-Ly Pakosta has called for an urgent update to international maritime laws in the wake of recent damages to Estlink 2 power transmission cable within Finland’s exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Finland on Christmas day.
She argues for modernized rules to prevent further incidents and enhance protection of vital infrastructure.
The Estonian government has decided to take the first steps to update the law of the sea before February, which it says it needs to be updated.
This was announced by the government during an extraordinary session, which was live broadcasted, with main topics of the discussion the damage of Estlink 2 and the protection of undersea infrastructure.
“When it comes to law of the sea the times have moved on. Estonia must be one of the initiators for the updating of the law of the sea. This will not happen of course over the next few months. We have decided that the first steps will start before February. We will be looking at the details,” the minister said during the emergency session of the government, followed by a press conference in the Stenbock House press room.
Meanwhile, NATO said on Friday it would boost its presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage this week of undersea cables.
Baltic Sea nations are on high alert for acts of sabotage after a string of outages of power cables since Russia invaded Ukraine. Last month, Sweden opened a probe into “sabotage” in response to cable breaks in the Baltic Sea.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he had discussed with the president of Finland Alexander Stubb the Finnish-led investigation, expressing his support.
“NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea,” Rutte wrote on social media platform X.
In a press briefing on Friday, Finnish President Stubb announced three concrete measures Finland is taking in response to the cable damage in the Gulf of Finland.
“Finland has a strong capacity to respond to situations like this. Our authorities are working swiftly and in close cooperation. The situation is under control. We have no reason to be worried. We are now investigating the incident,” he said.
According to Stubb, the second measure involves strengthening NATO’s presence in the region. The president noted that Finland considers it important to increase NATO’s maritime presence in the Baltic Sea in order to secure underwater infrastructure.
“Together with Estonia, we have asked for a reinforced NATO presence in our neighbourhood, especially around critical infrastructure. Our request has already been met.”
Stubb said the third follow-up measure pertains to finding solutions based on international maritime law to respond more effectively to similar incidents in the future.
The Finnish president emphasised that Finland with its allies and partners will continue to address the challenges posed by Russia’s shadow fleet.
“This includes measures agreed with NATO, the EU and our partners, such as inspections of the insurance certificates of vessels,” the president said.
The Finnish government reassured that despite the cuts to the Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia and to several telecommunications cables, Finland’s energy and telecommunications situation remains stable.
