Germany said on Saturday the suspected sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week was a "wake-up call" that demanded new EU sanctions against Russia's "shadow fleet".

"Almost every month, ships are currently damaging important undersea cables in the Baltic Sea," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told Funke media group on Dec. 28. "This is an urgent wake-up call for all of us.

Multiple recent incidents involving undersea cables in the Baltic Sea were unlikely to be a coincidence, Annalena Baerbock said. She called for tougher sanctions on Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of ships.

Following damage to an underwater power cable off Finland, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has raised alarm about the so-called Russian shadow fleet and called for further EU sanctions. "Almost every month,