NATO is deploying eyes in the sky and on the Baltic Sea to protect cables and pipelines that stitch together the nine countries with shores on Baltic waters

Multiple undersea cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea have been damaged in recent months, raising suspicions of sabotage.

Shipping firms may need to pay a fee to use the Baltic Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping routes, in order to cover the high costs of protecting undersea cables, Estonia's defence minister said on Wednesday following a spate of breaches.

Nato countries have stepped up patrols to protect critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, which is bordered by eight countries, and other waters. A Royal Navy submarine was ordered to surface last November close to a suspected Russian spy ship which was loitering over undersea infrastructure in UK waters.

An undersea data cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early on January 26, the latest in a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea in which critical seabed energy and communications lines are believed to have been severed by ships traveling to or from Russian ports.

TradeWinds reported this week that Bulgarian bulker owner Navibulgar admitted that one of its ships may have cut an undersea cable in the Baltic Sea over the weekend, but dismissed sabotage claims.

Russia has condemned the Western alliance for ramping up its naval presence in the so-called 'NATO lake' after alleged sabotage by Moscow-linked vessels.

Sweden has opened a preliminary investigation into suspected aggravated “sabotage” and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.

Intelligence officials in the U.S. and Europe have suggested that recent incidents damaging critical cables in the Baltic Sea were accidental, according to a Washington Post report. Western geostrategic self-deception has overly emphasized fears of escalation and cornering Russia.

Swedish authorities boarded a Maltese-flagged ship seized in connection with the latest breach of cables running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to begin an investigation into the matter, the country's security police said on Monday.

Swedish authorities have seized a ship suspected of damaging a data cable running under the Baltic Sea to Latvia. Prosecutors said an initial investigation pointed to sabotage, and an inquiry has been launched involving Sweden's police,