Finnish Navy deploys missile craft PGG hanko to NATO's Baltic surveillance operation

Surveilling Putin’s ‘shadow fleet’ Meduza’s dispatch from the Baltic Sea, where a new NATO mission aims to protect undersea infrastructure as tensions rise with Russia

The Baltic Sea handles around 15 percent of global shipping traffic — approximately 2,500 vessels daily, according to researcher Julian Pawlak. A rising number of these ships belong to Russia’s “shadow fleet,” a group of hundreds of aging, poorly regulated oil tankers that Moscow uses to bypass Western sanctions. Following a surge in damage to undersea infrastructure in late 2024, which European officials suspected could be the result of deliber…

This is the third time that a Finnish ship has served in NATO's standing naval force under its direct command in the Baltic Sea.

Finnish Navy deploys missile craft PGG hanko to NATO's Baltic surveillance operation

The mission reflects Finland’s growing cooperation with NATO since joining the Alliance, and involves operations from both Finnish and Allied military ports. The deployment is expected to continue through April, with tasks assigned in response to regional security needs. In recent months, NATO has increased surveillance in the Baltic Sea following several underwater cable disruptions, aiming to safeguard critical infrastructure. “NATO’s enhanced…