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,

Eight NATO member countries with access to the Baltic Sea have announced an action plan in response to incidents involving damaged infrastructure, pledging to "effectively respond" to attacks on undersea infrastructure,

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.