(Jan 14): The European Union’s new digital chief, Henna Virkkunen, suggested the repeated damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea couldn’t be fully accidental, as leaders from the region prepare to gather for a Nato summit devoted to the topic.

“It can’t really be by accident if these are happening many times a year,” Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice president for technological sovereignty, security and democracy, told Bloomberg TV in an interview taped on Monday.

There have been three instances of suspected sabotage of underwater power lines, data cables and a gas pipeline over the past 15 months in the Baltic Sea, with ship anchors tearing the infrastructure from the seabed.

On Tuesday, officials from the EU and North Atlantic Treaty Organization will gather with leaders from countries surrounding the Baltic Sea in Helsinki to address “how we can better prevent and detect and also respond to that kind of incidents,” Virkkunen added. The summit is co-hosted by Finland and Estonia.

Following suspected sabotage of undersea cables between Finland and Estonia, Nato is increasing its surveillance operations in the Baltic Sea region by deploying two ships in the area, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen announced Friday. Estonia has already sent a warship to patrol another power link.

There’s more that can be done on hybrid threats, of which the cable breaks are the latest example, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said at the European Parliament on Monday, adding that allied leaders will take further steps. “We must be more resilient to such hostile actions,” he said.

Finland is investigating the anchor of tanker Eagle S retrieved from the seabed as it probes aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference of communications in the cable breach incident that happened in late December. The vessel, sailing under the Cook Islands flag, is believed to have dragged its anchor for long distances.

Officials have identified it as a member of the so-called shadow fleet transporting Russian petroleum products.

In December, the EU adopted a 15th package of sanctions, this time targeting the shadow fleet of tankers Russia is using to get its oil to market to curb Moscow’s ability to circumvent existing restrictive measures.

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