Concise news summaries, often with the benefit of at least 24 hours of hindsight
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 said last week it would deploy frigates, patrol aircraft and drones in the Baltic Sea after a series of incidents in which ships have damaged power and communications cables with their anchors in acts of suspected sabotage.
In addition to the patrols, Hanno Pevkur, the defence minister, said countries are weighing other measures to protect cables, including installing sensors to detect anchors dragged across the sea floor or constructing casings or walls around the cables.
But this will come at a cost, and, whether countries or cable operators end up paying for it, consumers may be left ultimately footing the bill through higher taxes or utility costs. Another option, Mr Pevkur said, would be to levy a tax on vessels that sail through the Baltic Sea.
Source: Reuters
Russia, the world’s leading wheat exporter, is expanding its Baltic Sea ports as it aims to boost agricultural exports by 50% by 2030 while reducing dependence on traditional Black Sea routes, officials and executives said, Reuters, a news outlet, reports.
Baltic Sea ports loaded 1.5 million tons of grain last season, a three-fold increase from the previous season but still just 2.4% of overall Russian exports, according to Reuters calculations based on publicly available data.
“Logistically, the Baltic has many advantages for grains exports,” said Darya Snitko, vice president for Gazprombank, one of Russia’s largest banks and one of the biggest lenders to farmers.
She said the ability of Baltic terminals to handle bigger ships should help reduce overall costs.
Source: Reuters
Finland and Estonia on Friday have agreed to increase the security of their subsea infrastructure, which includes power and telecommunications cables as well as the Balticconnector gas pipeline that was damaged a year ago.
The agreement, announced in Helsinki on Friday, will see the two countries join forces to on things like technical surveillance, patrolling and repair capacities of subsea infrastructure in the Baltic.
It comes amid what Tallin and Helsinki say has been an increased number of threats against subsea infrastructure, and as countries around the Baltic rim are looking to expand all manner of subsea connections.
Finnish police continue to investigate cause of the Balticconnector damage, while Estonian police are looking into damage to subsea telecommunications links that occurred around the same time. Police in both countries have yet to provide their conclusions.
Local lawmakers on Bornholm have voted down a motion to begin the process of identifying potential sites for an industry estate that could serve as a crucible for energy start-ups once a planned converter station for off-shore wind farms comes on-line.
Tendering for the converter station on the southern coast and two wind farms capable of powering 4.5 million homes has begun. Collectively known as Energy Island Bornholm, it is due to begin producing power in 2030, and that, according to a majority of the environment, nature and planning committee, is too far off—and the outcome of the project still far too uncertain—to being looking for places to place an estate.
Helle Munk Ravnborg, the committee chair, told TV2/Bornholm, a local broadcaster, that identifying sites for potential development while the future of Energy Island Bornholm was unclear, and before the full council has decided to build an industry estate, would be an unnecessary worry for property owners in or near areas selected as suitable sites.
The council’s finance and climate committee is due to consider the same question when it meets on Wednesday. If it is approved, the proposal will come before the full council.
A newly established Estonian defence firm that is drawing on the talent of several of the country’s defence-industry heavyweights has announced it will start producing anti-drone missile systems in Ukraine at a time when that country is facing increasingly intense Russian air raids.
“Expansion into Ukraine is the most important early strategic choice for Frankenburg. We will work tirelessly to launch our unique missile manufacturing in Ukraine to provide much-needed C-UAS (counter-uncrewed air system, ed) assets to the warfighter,” said Taavi Madiberk, a technology executive who helped found the company in January.
Frankenburg Technologies develops and produces air-defence systems that are capable of being mass-produced.
Other notable figures involved with the firm include its chief executive, Kusti Salm, former Estonian defence official whose appointment was announced today; Martin Herem, Estonia’s recently retired top military commander and Kuldar Väärsi, the chief executive of Milrem Robotics.
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The firm is the most recent European arms producer to announce its intention to set up production on Ukrainian soil. In February, German manufacturer Rheinmetall AG announced it would open a new plant in Ukraine to produce artillery ammunition.
By March, five more agreements with foreign arms