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Russia: Shipping

Asked by Graeme DownieLabourMinistry of DefenceTabled Answered 13 January 2025UIN 21875

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he last had discussions with his Finnish counterpart on Russian shadow fleet aggression in the Baltic Sea.

Answered by Luke Pollard

The Secretary of State for Defence contacted his Finnish counterpart immediately following the incident damaging the Estlink 2 undersea cable between Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day. They also discussed the incident when they met at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base on 9 January.

Acting as framework nation for the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), we have activated a JEF Response Option, known as NORDIC WARDEN, which will harness AI to track potential threats to undersea infrastructure and monitor the Russian shadow fleet, sending out real-time warnings of suspicious activity to JEF nations as well as NATO.

This JEF activity reinforces existing and planned NATO responses.

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