As they plied the gray, icy waters of the Baltic Sea west of Russia on Thursday, the crew of the Estonian minehunter EML Sakala kept a careful eye on any vessels slowing down suspiciously or suddenly changing course.

Officials say the damage to Estlink 2, a power connection with the capacity to provide half of Estonia's winter electricity needs, did not disrupt service, although it did drive up energy prices in the country and the other Baltic nations.

In addition, a U.K.-led 10-member consortium of northern European nations called the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) has reactivated an AI-based system to track suspicious ships in these waters. The actions are a response to the suspected deliberate severing on Christmas Day of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable and four undersea communications cables between Finland and Estonia,

General Mark Rutte says the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea area as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week.

As they plied the gray, icy waters of the Baltic Sea west of Russia on Thursday, the crew of the Estonian minehunter EML Sakala kept a careful eye on any vessels slowing down suspiciously or suddenly changing course.

Incidents of suspected sabotage of undersea cables and pipelines are prompting countries to step up security measures. Estonia's navy has launched an operation to try to counter sabotage, after cables were damaged in December.

If the Russians see that we are present there, the likelihood of such sabotage acts immediately decreases," said one navy commander.