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.

This latest episode of cable damage adds to a series of similar disruptions or suspected sabotage acts in the strategically important Baltic Sea.

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.

( NewsNation) — A former NATO ambassador says Russia will likely never take responsibility for striking down an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan on Christmas Day, killing 38 of the 67 people on board.

The Kremlin has said that Putin "apologized for the tragic incident" and expressed his "deep and sincere condolences" the the victims' families.

Russian air defenses downed an Azerbaijan Airlines plane that crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38 people, four sources with knowledge of the preliminary findings of Azerbaijan's investigation into the disaster told Reuters on Thursday.