Helsinki said last weekend’s leak at the Balticconnector gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia was likely caused by outside activity, raising suspicions of Russian involvement.
NATO members Finland and Estonia are investigating the incident and have warned against jumping to conclusions until official results are available.
“I hope that in a week or two we will have enough evidence from our investigations,” Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said during a meeting with his NATO counterparts.
The latest incident comes more than a year after explosions in the Baltic Sea damaged the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia to Western Europe. This fueled geopolitical tensions, which were already high due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officials say the explosions were sabotage, but there are still no definitive answers as to who is responsible.
According to A. Hakkanen, in the case of such incidents, it is difficult to determine who is behind it and find reliable evidence.
“That’s why I think that in this case, what happened in the Baltic Sea, we have to draw conclusions much faster than we did with Nord Stream,” he said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that the alliance would offer a decisive response if the incident was proven to be a deliberate attack.
“It is too early to draw any conclusions about this. But of course we have to be prepared. We don’t know what the external actions will be,” said A. Hakkanen.
This year, Finland abandoned its traditional policy of military non-alignment and joined NATO due to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Thus, the country made an important strategic change that caused Moscow’s indignation.
Finland’s defense minister declined to speculate on whether the incident could trigger Article 5 of NATO’s collective defense if Russia was found to be involved.
He said Helsinki was not currently urging NATO to send naval reinforcements to the region, and that any change in position would depend on the outcome of the investigation.
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