Finland hosts Baltic Sea exercise after cable sabotage

Jumping out of a helicopter, border guards practised how to take control of a suspicious ship, as Finland on Thursday completed an EU maritime exercise in the Baltic Sea.

The exercise follows several incidents involving ships suspected of deliberately damaging underwater infrastructure in the Gulf of Finland.

Some 300 Finnish and Polish security officials took part on the final day of the "MARSEC EU" exercise, held in the Baltic Sea for the first time.

It involved "improving cable security in the Baltic Sea Basin," Commander Ilja Iljin from the Finnish Border Guard told AFP on a Finnish icebreaker serving as the "target vessel."

"We have to be ready for the next incident tonight or in a couple of months," Iljin said.

Experts and politicians have claimed a series of suspected sabotage of undersea infrastructure were part of Russia's "hybrid war" against Western countries.

On December 31, 2025, Finnish authorities stopped the Fitburg, a cargo ship going from Russia to Israel, as it was suspected of dragging its anchor and damaging two telecoms cables linking Finland and Estonia.

In early September, its Russian captain and a senior crew member went on trial in Finland, charged with "aggravated criminal mischief" and "aggravated interference with telecommunications".

The incident came after three similar instances of vessels suspected of sabotaging subsea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea -- the first one dating back to 2023.

"All of these have been learning experiences for us," Iljin said, explaining that Finland and other Baltic Sea states were ramping up cooperation.

Rasmus Fors, a Finnish border guard reservist said: "I think it's great to see and be involved in this kind of training, so that we know how to be prepared if something like this happens again."