Finland Practices Ship Boardings at Sea to Stop Undersea Sabotage

GULF OF FINLAND, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Finnish authorities boarded and searched a target vessel in the Baltic Sea on Thursday in a live drill that officials said shows how seriously the region takes the threat of undersea sabotage after a string of incidents.

Finland and the wider Baltic Sea region have experienced ruptures of power cables, telecom lines and gas pipelines following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, raising concerns that critical infrastructure lacks sufficient protection.

Masked officers from the coast guard, police and armed forces on Thursday fast-roped onto a vessel’s deck from a helicopter, securing the crew and sweeping the ship