NATO will deploy “about 10” ships to guard underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, according to Yle, Finland's national public broadcaster. Finnish and Estonian ships will be primarily responsible for patrols,

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

NATO plans to strengthen its military presence in the Baltic Sea by deploying ships to protect underwater infrastructure in the region, according to a report by Finnish public broadcaster Yle. The operation is set to begin by the end of the week.

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, while alliance member Estonia launched a naval operation to guard a parallel electricity link.

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.

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.

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,