Estonia’s Elisa Eesti AS and CITIC Telecom CPC reported late on December 25 outages in three submarine communication cables between Estonia and Finland, the EstLink2. Two cables from the Elisa group and one from CITIC Telecom were damaged, BNS, a Baltic newswire, and ERR.ee reported on December 26.

While the cause remains unknown, repairs are underway, and no impact on end users has been reported. Service providers confirm that alternative routes ensure uninterrupted communications between Estonia and Finland. At least two vessels, one of which is Chinese, are suspected to have caused the damage.

As reported by bne IntelliNews, in October 2023, Russian and Chinese ships were investigated over Balticconnector damage in the Baltic Sea.

The South China Morning Post reported that Chinese authorities attributed the pipeline damage caused by the New Polar Bear to an accident during a severe storm.

Reacting to the latest incident, Finnish President Alexander Stubb highlighted risks posed by Russian "shadow fleet" vessels.

On December 26, Finnish authorities also detained the Cook Islands-flagged vessel Eagle S for investigation. Preliminary findings suggest the vessel was sailing with an unsecured anchor, potentially causing the damage. The other ship sailing under the Chinese flag was also being looked at.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna stated that the frequency of such incidents points to a systemic issue, describing the damage as "attacks on vital infrastructure."

He emphasised the vulnerability of underwater infrastructure and called for international cooperation to address the issue.

On December 27, the Estonian government will hold an extraordinary session to discuss the failure of the EstLink 2 electricity transmission link between Estonia and Finland.

Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal will also contact Nato leadership to discuss the enhancement of infrastructure protection, BNS and ERR.ee said.