Incident in the Baltic Sea

Russian ship’s crew shoots at the Bundeswehr

The use of signaling ammunition is actually only common in emergency situations (symbolic image).

(Bild: @Jelle Van Der Wolf / VDWI stock.adobe)

An explosive incident has occurred in the Baltic Sea: The crew of a Russian ship fired signal ammunition at a German Bundeswehr helicopter.

The helicopter was being used for reconnaissance purposes, according to the German Press Agency in Brussels.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has already commented on this on the fringes of a NATO meeting. However, the 43-year-old did not give any details.

The use of signal ammunition is actually only common in emergency situations. Baerbock had pointed out that there are always ships in the Baltic Sea that are involved in circumventing sanctions due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (right) jokes with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock before the talks at NATO headquarters.

(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Baerbock announces more patrols at
The Green politician also announced that surveillance of pipelines and data cables in the Baltic Sea is to be stepped up. The protection of critical infrastructure by patrols is to be expanded, she said. The reason for this is the increase in hybrid attacks originating from Russia and its supporters.

Baerbock cited the destruction of cables, the jamming of the global positioning system GPS and the incident involving the German army helicopter and the tanker as examples.

Suspicion also against Chinese ships
Most recently, damage to two fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea occurred within a short period of time in November. These were a cable running between Sweden and Lithuania and one between Finland and Germany. The cause is still unclear in both cases. The Swedish authorities are investigating possible sabotage. The investigators are focusing on a Chinese ship called "Yi Peng 3", which is said to have passed the affected parts of the cables at the time in question. A gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was previously severely damaged last year.

Following the damage to the communication cables in the Baltic Sea, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently proposed joint surveillance of the sea by the navies of the western littoral states.

In addition to Russia, China, North Korea and Iran in particular are accused of wanting to weaken states in Europe with so-called hybrid attacks. This generic term covers actions that state or non-state actors use to harm other countries without waging open warfare. As a rule, they are difficult or impossible to attribute to a specific perpetrator.