MOSCOW (Sputnik) – NATO countries will start monitoring underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea in December using the alliance’s underwater security infrastructure, Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, Norwegian commander Pal Bratbak presented the project for the operation of the NATO Maritime Center for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure (CUI) to the media, the newspaper said, adding that the operations are currently in the early stages as the agency started work in May.
The undersea infrastructure will be monitored using software that integrates data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which records the location of ships, satellite imagery, and pipeline sensors. The sensors will be placed on oil and gas pipelines, not communication cables, the newspaper said.
Bratbak also said that the pilot version of the software will be operational in December.
At the same time, the Finnish military said the initiative to protect underwater infrastructure was not related to recent incidents involving cables in the Baltic Sea.
On Monday, Finnish operator Cinia Oy said the C-Lion1 undersea communications cable between Finland and Germany had been temporarily shut down due to a malfunction. Swedish and Lithuanian media later reported that another cable had broken. The countries have launched an investigation into the matter.
