The meeting, co-organized by Finland and Estonia, will focus on enhancing NATO's presence in the Baltic Sea and responding to risks posed by Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a group of tankers allegedly used for sanction evasion and espionage.

The decision follows a spate of suspected sabotage incidents on underwater cables.

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.

NATO member Estonia has deployed a naval warship to defend its underwater power cables after a Russian vessel allegedly cut one of the wires in yet another act of sabotage against the allied nations.

Nato said on Friday it would boost its presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage this week of an undersea power cable and four internet lines. Finnish special forces on Thursday seized a ship carrying Russian oil on suspicion the vessel had caused an outage of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable.

NATO is deploying approximately 10 ships to protect underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. The first of these ships is expected to arrive by the end of the week, and the operation will continue until April.

NATO is dispatching approximately 10 ships to safeguard underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. The initial ships are expected to arrive by the end of the week, and the operation is expected to continue until April.

NATO will begin operations to protect critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea by January 13, responding to a rise in incidents of damage to cables and pipelines, Yle reports. Approximately 10 ships will be deployed for this mission.