UPDATE 1-Estonia's navy to protect Baltic Sea power cable

Adds minister quote in paragraph 3, background in paragraph 3

STOCKHOLM, Dec 27 (Reuters) - Estonia's armed forces have launched a naval operation to protect the Estlink 1 undersea power cable in the Baltic Sea, Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on Friday.

Finland on Thursday seized a ship on suspicion it caused an outage of the Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier, and that it also damaged or broke four internet lines.

"If there is a threat to the critical undersea infrastructure in our region, there will also be a response," Tsahkna wrote on social media X.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom, editing by Terje Solsvik)

((anna.ringstrom@thomsonreuters.com;))