Finland plans to set up a maritime surveillance center which will also see cooperation from Estonia, Yle reported.
The facility will boost capabilities in intervening in “situations occurring in the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone,” the border guard said.
The center’s area of surveillance will include the Gulf of Finland, which separates Estonia from its northern neighbor and is used by Russian “shadow fleet” vessels.
Finland’s border guard, the Rajavartiolaitos, said at a press conference it will be lead nation, but all allied Baltic sea states will be setting up their own similar hubs.
The Gulf of Finland separates Estonia and Finland, with Russia to the east. Source: Helen Wright/ERR
The European Commission will also be involved in the project.
When the Finnish center will be up and running is not yet known.
On Christmas Day 2024, a Cook Islands-flagged tanker, the Eagle S., cut the Estlink-2 communications cable linking Finland and Estonia.
The damage arose from its trailing anchor.
The Eagle S. was part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” assembly of often aging oil tankers and other freighters aimed at circumventing sanctions and the oil price cap.
The Eagle S when it was moored off Porvoo, Finland, after being seized. It was released from custody in March 2025. Source: ERR
When the ship sailed into Finnish waters, Finnish special forces boarded it and detained its captain and crew, finding it to be “loaded” with spy equipment. This action and the subsequent court case in Finland both clarified issues of maritime law and raised more questions.
Last April, Estonian authorities detained another shadow fleet vessel, the Kiwala, after it strayed into Estonian territorial waters.
Most recently, early on this month, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation seized a cargo ship, the Fitburg, suspected of breaking cables in the Baltic Sea in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone on the last day of 2025. Finland released the Fitburg several days later.
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