EDITORIAL ⟩ Twelve points to Finland

«We should be more active in monitoring critical underwater infrastructure... erm.. we will review the possibilities of international maritime law...» – «You must whack edgewise, Kalevipoeg, not monitor. See, how the Finns acted!» Illustration: Urmas Nemvalts

• This time, the Finns were prepared for the arrival of a cable-cutting ship and reacted quickly.
• Everything has happened exactly as Postimees has recommended in its previous editorials.
• Our government must send out a message that we will protect our infrastructure by all means.

Postimees is giving Finland maximum points for its performance, and we're not talking about Eurovision here, although the Eurovision curse was also broken by the members of the Finnish band Lordi, disguised as mutant monsters, when they won first place in 2006 (with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah).

The current victory seems even sweeter. The Finns had prepared for the return of a cable-cutting ship, and just a few hours after Eagle S had torn Estlink 2, helicopters flew in and special forces, descending aboard by rope, quickly took control of the ship.

The quick reaction was good for two reasons. It is said that this saved the Balticconnector gas pipeline and Estlink 1, which the ship would soon have crossed as well. But what is certain is that the quick operation yielded a so-called smoking gun: special reconnaissance equipment, which should not be in the arsenal of a normal cargo ship, was found on board the ship. In addition, a man was discovered on board who was not a regular crew member, but probably had to operate the special equipment that allowed, among other things, to monitor underwater life. And the ship did not have an anchor at the end of the anchor chain.

Our government must send a message that we will protect our infrastructure by all means, and hybrid attacks will be responded to forcefully and the guilty vessels will be detained.

The ship has been seized and moved from the sea to a port, where investigative activities are continuing. All of this has happened exactly as Postimees has suggested in its previous editorials. Philosophical discussions about international maritime law may continue, but in this case, the Finns did not sit back and twiddle their thumbs, but rocked out, once again.

The ship was directed to the Finnish coastal waters, and since its malicious activity had been identified, a carefully thought-out special operation was launched. We see that anything is possible if two prerequisites are met: there must be political will and military capability. Essentially the same can be said of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, where the US fleet declared a naval blockade around the island of Cuba and threatened to seize by force the USSR ships carrying munitions to the island. As we know from history, Khrushchev eventually removed the nuclear missiles from the island.

Could Estonia manage to carry out as principled activities as the Finns? We may lack military capability, but if we had the political will, we could overcome our capability gap with the help of our allies. The primary question is, however, do we actually have sufficient political will? No clear messages that could deter cable cutters could be heard at Thursday's government press conference. The prime minister said that the Navy, together with NATO allies, will begin to monitor critical undersea infrastructure more actively. Members of the government also spoke about the need to review the possibilities of international maritime law. So, what will this lead to?

Our government must send a message that we will protect our infrastructure by all means, and hybrid attacks will be responded to forcefully and the guilty vessels will be detained. Secondly, it is necessary to do everything possible to completely stop Russian oil shipments in the Baltic Sea. This is how Russia earns money to continue its aggression against Ukraine, it is a rather environmentally dangerous activity, and as we are now convinced, these ships cannot navigate according to the rules and are instead constantly getting stuck in cables and pipes.