Undersea pipeline damage appears to be deliberate, says Finland

Finnish president Sauli Niinistö has said damage to an undersea gas pipeline and communications cable connecting Finland and Estonia appears to be deliberate.

“It is likely that the damage to both the gas pipeline and the communication cable is the result of external activity,” Niinistö said on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. “The cause of the damage is not yet clear; the investigation continues.”

The Finnish president said Helsinki was “in contact with our allies and partners” and the country was “prepared, and our readiness is good”, adding that the incident had “no effect on our supply security”.

Local media cited government sources as saying Russian sabotage was suspected.

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the transatlantic military alliance was “ready to share information about the destruction of Finnish and Estonian underwater infrastructure” and to “support its allies”.

The Finnish government said in a statement authorities had discovered the damage to the Baltic Connector natural gas pipeline, and to a communication cable linking Finland and Estonia, at about 2am on Sunday morning.

The Finnish daily Iltalehti reported that the pipeline was severely damaged and expected to be out of service for several months, with both the Finnish border guard and defence forces reportedly investigating the incident.

The paper said an unusual drop in pressure had been observed in the pipeline early on Sunday morning by both the Finnish and Estonian gas operators, citing unnamed intelligence sources as saying the government “considered it possible that Russia would have aimed a sabotage attack”.

It reported earlier this year that the Finnish and Swedish navies had stepped up their readiness to prevent Russian attacks against the countries’ energy grids amid sightings of Russian vessels in in the vicinity of wind farms and underwater power cables in the Baltic Sea.