The screen at an October 2023 news conference at the National Bureau of Investigation in Vantaa, Finland, shows the Finnish Border Guard’s photo of Hong Kong-registered cargo ship Newnew Polar Bear, which is suspected of damaging the BaltiConnector gas line by dragging its anchor. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
THE WATCH STAFF
Six NATO allies that border the increasingly strategic North Sea signed an agreement in April 2024 to coordinate defense and security measures after a series of underseas communication and gas pipelines were cut in recent months. Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom will now jointly protect infrastructure such as underwater pipelines after still-unexplained sabotages of the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022 and a Baltic Sea pipeline in 2023. Some governments, notably Finland and Estonia, have indicated they believe Russia played a role in the intentional damage to the pipelines, a charge denied by the Russian government.
The April 9, 2024, accord recognizes the strong collaboration of allies is crucial for their mutual defense from an external threat. “We have a strong collaboration across countries in the EU, and not least the North Sea, on the expansion of renewable energy. In order to fulfill these ambitions, it is crucial that we work together to protect critical infrastructure across national borders. Strengthened cooperation on sharing important information is an important step in this direction,” said Lars Aagaard, Denmark’s minister for climate, energy and utilities, according to a ministry news release.
The April agreement signals a collaborative approach to eliminating vulnerabilities of northern Europe’s maritime critical infrastructure. It also indicates a recognition that Russian aggression in northern Europe could threaten NATO and the maintenance of the international rules-based order in the Arctic, a crucial component of the homeland defense strategy of U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).
In 2023, NATO’s intelligence chief warned of possible Russian retaliation for Western support of Ukraine after Moscow invaded in 2022. “The North Sea is the powerhouse driving Europe’s renewable and net zero ambitions, helping to bolster energy security on the continent. So, it’s crucial we protect its critical energy infrastructure now and in the future,” said Andrew Bowie, the U.K.’s minister for nuclear and renewables, according to Reuters.
Sean Monaghan, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., analyzed the Nord Stream pipeline attacks and compared them to Russia’s 2014 shadow invasion of Crimea. He described it as a hybrid attack that allows for plausible deniability. The attacks are “a wake-up call for NATO and Europe. It vividly demonstrates the vulnerability of critical infrastructure, the damage hybrid attacks can wreak, and the difficulty of preventing and responding to them. Now is the time for NATO allies to draw on their years of preparation against hybrid threats by taking decisive measures to prepare, deter, and defend against further attacks while doubling down on their support for Ukraine,” Monaghan wrote in October 2022 shortly after the Nord Stream attack.
The North Sea is bordered exclusively by NATO member states. It connects to the Arctic through the Norwegian Sea to its north. The North Sea is more than 970 kilometers long and 580 kilometers wide, covering 570,000 square kilometers. As climate change melts ice in the Arctic, making navigation possible for the first time in large stretches, the gateway to the North Sea assumes a greater importance.
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