Latvian leader floats closure of Baltic to Russian ships after pipeline incident

NATO may have to consider closing the Baltic Sea to Russian shipping if Moscow is found to have been behind a suspected subsea attack on the Balticconnector gas pipeline, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said Oct. 20, as the alliance stepped up Baltic naval patrols.

European gas prices spiked earlier in October following the discovery of the damage to the Balticconector, a bidirectional subsea pipeline that runs across the entrance to the Gulf of Finland between Estonia and Finland.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto blamed "external activity" for the damage to the pipeline and a communications cable, in comments Oct. 10. The pipeline is expected to take some five months to repair.

The Gulf of Finland is the main shipping route into and out of northwest Russia, and a conduit for Russian crude and oil product exports to world markets. In recent months these have included a small number of oil tanker shipments through the Arctic 'Northern Sea Route' to China.

Suspicions of a deliberate attack follow explosions on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline systems in September 2022. Investigations into those incidents are still ongoing, however.

Rinkevics, speaking at a conference in Riga, stressed the importance of investigations into the latest incident, before drawing conclusions, but made clear his concerns. Latvia has been a NATO member since 2004 and is a vocal supporter of Ukraine.

"If we see that there is a state party responsible for the damaging of the critical infrastructure, then we also need to consider this at NATO level, maybe actually also considering closing the shipping in the Baltic Sea for Russian ships, if Russia is found guilty," Rinkevics told the event, shown in video footage on the presidential website. "We have to also get full results of the investigation," he reiterated.

Earlier, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said EU energy ministers had discussed how to protect critical infrastructure at an Oct. 17 meeting in the wake of the Balticconnector incident.

"We must remain vigilant for...further disruptions of our critical energy infrastructure," Simson said, adding that the European Commission would wait until the ongoing investigation before drawing any conclusions.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assessed the benchmark Dutch TTF month-ahead gas price on Oct. 19 at Eur44.83/MWh.

NATO patrols

NATO on Oct. 19 announced it was stepping up Baltic patrols "following recent damage to undersea infrastructure in the region."

The patrols would include increased surveillance and reconnaissance flights and the dispatching of four minesweepers to the area concerned, it said.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely, and we remain in close contact with our Allies Estonia and Finland, and our partner Sweden," NATO acting spokesperson Dylan White said.

"NATO will continue to adapt its maritime posture in the Baltic Sea and will take all necessary steps to keep Allies safe," he added. NATO has also recently established a Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure, it noted.