Beyond Nord Stream — Two More Baltic Sea Cables Suffer Sabotage

Two Baltic Sea communications data cables have been cut, and European authorities say the damage appears to be international sabotage. Some are blaming the Russians, claiming that they are escalating the war in Ukraine.

Two undersea fiber-optic cables, one connecting Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island, and the other connectying Helsinki, Finland and Rostock, Germany, were cut. The Finland-Germany cable, known as C-Lion1, runs alongside the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that transport gas from Russia to Germany. The Nord Stream pipeline was the subject of sabotage in September 2022.

“No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally. I also don’t want to believe in versions that these were ship anchors that accidentally caused the damage,” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters. “So we have to state—without knowing in concrete terms who it came from—that this is a hybrid action. And we also have to assume—without already knowing it, obviously—that this is sabotage,” he added.

Attention is being focued on a Chinese ship, Yi Peng 3, which is thought to have been involved in both cable cuttings. The ship was on its way from Ust-Luga, Russian to Port Said, Egypt, and was at or near the places in the Baltic Sea where and when the two cables were severed. There is no consensus whether the damage was caused by this ship or whether it happened in some other way. Nor is there consenses whether, if this ship was involved, the damage was accidental (such as by dragging its anchor unintentionally) or purposeful.

In a multi-nation joint statement issued by France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Britain , it was suggested that Russia was suspected in the cable cutting incident. “Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against Nato and EU countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks,” the joint statement said.

But American officials, according to CNN, have expressed scepticism about the sabotage theory. CNN reported that the U.S. had seen no indications of “nefarious activity.”

Moscow rejected, as “laughable.” all suggestions and insinuations that it was involved, stating that it was “absurd to keep blaming Russia for anything without any grounds.”