Lithuanian president hopes NATO actions in Baltic Sea will ensure 'necessary deterrence'

RUKLA - Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda expects that NATO and Nordic efforts in the Baltic Sea will deter attempts to damage underwater infrastructure.

"Both patrolling and the decisive actions taken by our colleagues in Finland and Sweden-when ships were detained, an investigations was launched, and criminal liability was pursued-give hope that we'll create the necessary deterrence and discourage the repetition of such operations," he told journalists in Rukla on Tuesday.

Several underwater telecommunications and power cables in the Baltic Sea have been severed in recent months.

On November 17, one of the three communication cables connecting Sweden's Gotland Island to Lithuania was damaged. The cable has since been repaired and is now functioning normally.

Swedish media reported earlier this month about attempts to damage the NordBalt underwater power cable linking Lithuania and Sweden.

In one of the latest incidents, the Latvian State Radio and Television Center's data transmission cable between Sweden and Latvia was damaged on Sunday morning. This happened despite NATO's surveillance mission, which was launched earlier in January to prevent attacks on underwater infrastructure in the region.

Experts and politicians believe these incidents could be part of hybrid warfare orchestrated by Russia against the West.

The Lithuanian president noted that while there is currently no evidence to unequivocally link these incidents to Russia, "the coincidence of timing, with so many incidents occurring over the past year and their increasing frequency," raises justified doubts.

Nausėda said that, in any case, the damages should be compensated by those responsible.

"These damages must be compensated, and the consequences should fall on those causing the harm. It's no longer critical whether the damage is intentional or accidental; the losses, in any case, are enormous," he said.

The president noted that hybrid actions are a significant part of Russia's aggression in areas where the state is not prepared for an open military conflict with NATO.