Police and media reports say that Finnish authorities have detained a Russia-linked ship as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables.

The Finnish national grid operator Fingrid reported damage to the underwater electricity cable Estlink 2, connecting Finland and Estonia. The cause of the malfunction is unknown, Yle reports. It is noted that electricity is not transmitted between Finland and Estonia via Estlink 2 because the cable has been damaged.

HELSINKI – An undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia broke down on Dec 25, Finland’s Prime Minister said, the latest in a series of incidents involving telecommunications cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Friday that the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week.

Finnish police said on Sunday they had found tracks that drag on for dozens of kilometres along the bottom of the Baltic Sea where a tanker carrying Russian oil is suspected of breaking a power line and four telecoms cables with its anchor.

Nato will bolster its military presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week, the Western military alliance’s chief Mark Rutte said on Friday.