Finland's security | A British-led special operation in the Baltic Sea – This is what it's all about

Britain's The confirmed presence of the JEF alliance (Joint Expeditionary Force) in the Baltic Sea may be on hiatus at the turn of the year.

There is currently no certainty or information about the continuation of the operation launched at the beginning of December, says the general manager Janne Kuusela from the Defense Policy Department of the Ministry of Defense.

However, according to him, it is possible that the operation will end by Christmas and continue in January, if the need requires it.

During the enhanced monitoring, no significant suspicious activity has been detected near the critical infrastructure of the Baltic Sea.

“It has not come to my attention that anything special to report has been observed. Admittedly, I haven't been involved in the operation on a daily basis, but if something really significant had been discovered, it would have come to my attention,” says Kuusela.

Ten At the end of November, the defense ministers of the JEF countries decided to increase the presence and control of the countries' navies and sea guards in the Baltic Sea.

The background was the damage to the sea cables between Finland, Estonia and Sweden and the breakage of the gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. By increasing the presence of the fleets of the JEF countries, the aim was to visibly enhance the control and protection of the undersea infrastructure.

The Ministry of Defense of Finland initially announced that maritime surveillance will be carried out during December, and it is possible to continue it later. Finland was said to be participating in the surveillance with the ships and aircraft of the Navy and the Border Guard.

Jef is defense cooperation led by the British, in which, in addition to Britain, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Netherlands are involved.

The start of intensive monitoring of the Baltic Sea was the first time that the Jef countries activated the so-called response option. These are a kind of contingency plans of the Jef alliance, for which there is no established name in Finnish yet.

“There is no good Finnish expression for it that everyone can understand”, confirms Kuusela.

“I haven't found a better translation than coordinated action.”

Jef has prepared these contingency plans during this year. They are used, for example, when it is necessary to react quickly to crises.

The Jef Alliance has been in the public eye especially during the last year. There are also misconceptions about its operation. It is not a defense alliance or a “little NATO”, as is sometimes thought.

Initially, the Jef cooperation aimed at crisis management in, for example, the Middle East and Africa. Today, the goal is to develop military cooperation and, if necessary, act together in crisis situations, especially in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region.

Kuusela also admits that he noticed Jef's overestimation in the media.

“It's a very useful group for us in that it complements NATO.”

Finland the navy has two battleships on duty in normal readiness. Genuine enhancement of readiness in the Baltic Sea would require additional ships and crews. Doubts have arisen that the enhanced Jef emergency service would indeed be an information operation for Finland to reassure the nation.

HS asked the General Staff how the Jef coalition's effective surveillance in the Baltic Sea has been reflected, for example, in the operations of the Defense Forces. The General Staff did not want to answer the questions and transferred the information responsibility to the Ministry of Defense.

Kuusela admits that no extra ships or crews have been conjured up for the Baltic Sea. According to him, enhanced supervision is a matter of coordinated activities of the navies of different countries.

“This has been implemented in such a way that the different activities that the Jef countries do have been planned and combined so that they become a logical complementary entity with a common operational logic,” Kuusela formulates.

“This is not a massive operation, but this is a response option that has been decided to be activated.”

Britain's the navy has told more openly than the Finnish Defense Forces how it has participated in the “coordinated activities” of the Baltic Sea.

The British have even publicly named the ships that have been used for surveillance organized by Jef in the area that stretches from the English Channel to the Baltic Sea.

There are no less than seven warships and the British Air Force's P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft. Two of the ships are frigates, two patrol ships, two mine countermeasures ships and one amphibious assault ship.

The Royal Navy has announced, for example, the frigate Richmond's participation in the surveillance of underwater infrastructure together with the navies of Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia.

Among other things, Richmond is said to have monitored ships moving in the Baltic Sea with its sensors and to have detected several Russian ships and aircraft in the Baltic Sea.