US Marines Land in Finland to Hunt for Russian Saboteurs in the Baltic

Semper Fi!

US Marine Sgt. Luci Luciano, a vehicle commander with 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, uses binoculars to observe a target during a live-fire range as part of exercise Arrow 2019 at the Pohjankangas Training Area near Niinisalo, Finland, May 12, 2019. This photo is from Arrow 2019, not the current deployment. Arrow is an annual multinational exercise with the purpose of training mechanized infantry, artillery, and mortar field skills in a live-fire exercise along with the partners from the Finnish Defense Forces. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Scott Jenkins) Public domain

For the time being, US military deployments meant to assist our European partners are ongoing - although there is no guarantee how long that will last with the current administration’s hostile stance toward the EU.

But for now, a team of US Marines has landed in coastal Finland, adding some muscle (and drones) to a NATO-led operation hunting down suspected saboteurs lurking in the Baltic Sea.

Armed with small surveillance drones and enough high-tech gear to make a Bond villain jealous, about 40 Marines from the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion have joined forces with a Finnish brigade, Marine Forces Europe and Africa confirmed Friday.

Their mission? To bolster NATO’s Baltic Sentry operation, a surveillance-heavy effort aimed at stopping whoever’s been playing underwater demolition derby with critical energy and communication cables.

This whole operation kicked off in January after a string of “mysterious” incidents left key undersea cables between Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden, and Germany looking like they lost a fight with a chainsaw.

And while Russia hasn’t exactly RSVP’d to these sabotage accusations, NATO has its eye on a certain “shadow fleet” of Russian ships—aging oil tankers operating under dubious ownership—suspected of being behind at least some of the damage. Because when it comes to economic warfare, Moscow prefers the whodunit approach.