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.

Finnish police have reported finding the anchor responsible for severing an undersea internet cable connecting Finland to Estonia. Last month, Finland detained the Eagle S, an oil tanker transporting Russian oil,

Finnish police said on Tuesday they had recovered a lost anchor from the seabed as part of an investigation of suspected sabotage against power and internet cables in the Baltic Sea.

Nato is increasing its surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea region with two ships deployed to the area following the suspected sabotage of undersea cables between Finland and Estonia. The move was unveiled on Friday by Finland’s Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen,

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.

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,

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.