The meeting, co-organized by Finland and Estonia, will focus on enhancing NATO's presence in the Baltic Sea and responding to risks posed by Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a group of tankers allegedly used for sanction evasion and espionage.

General Mark Rutte says the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea area as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb will host a summit in Helsinki of the NATO countries that border the Baltic Sea together with Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal next Tuesday. The summit, which will take place at the Presidential Palace,

NATO is deploying approximately 10 ships to protect underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. The first of these ships is expected to arrive by the end of the week, and the operation will continue until April.