By Anne Kauranen, Essi Lehto and Andreas Rinke HELSINKI (Reuters) -NATO countries will deploy frigates, patrol aircraft and naval drones in the Baltic Sea to help protect critical infrastructure and reserve the right to take action against ships suspected of posing a security threat,

NATO is launching a new mission to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea region after a string of incidents that have heightened concerns about possible Russian activities, the alliance’s leader said.

NATO launched a new Baltic Sea mission that will add military capabilities into the strategic waterway as concerns over suspected Russian sabotage and aggression in the area ratchet up.