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.

A fleet of up to 10 NATO vessels will guard the infrastructure under the Baltic Sea until April, the Finnish broadcaster YLE reported on Jan. 7 after several cables were cut in suspected sabotage.

NATO ships will start guarding critical locations in the Baltic Sea later this week, Finnish public broadcaster YLE reported on Wednesday.

NATO wants to send around ten ships to the Baltic Sea to protect cables. AI is also to play a role in monitoring the Russian shadow fleet.

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.

NATO said on Friday it would boost its presence in the Baltic Sea after the suspected sabotage this week of an undersea power cable and four internet lines, while alliance member Estonia launched a naval operation to guard a parallel electricity link.

In addition, a U.K.-led 10-member consortium of northern European nations called the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) has reactivated an AI-based system to track suspicious ships in these waters. The actions are a response to the suspected deliberate severing on Christmas Day of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable and four undersea communications cables between Finland and Estonia,

The decision follows a spate of suspected sabotage incidents on underwater cables.

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.