11-19-2024, 11:55 PM
Quote:Swedish authorities track Chinese vessel to scene of Baltic cable breaksIrish times
Swedish authorities say they have detected a Chinese ship moving near two telecoms cables that failed within hours of each other on the Baltic Sea bed in recent days.
Prosecutors in Stockholm have launched a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage, hours after Germany dubbed the cable failure part of a “hybrid operation”.
On Sunday morning at about 10am, Swedish authorities registered problems with a data cable under the Baltic Sea from the Öland island to Lithuania. At 4am on Monday, telecoms operators in Finland and Germany reported problems with another cable called C-Lion-1…
German defence minister Boris Pistorius said “nobody believes that these cables were severed by accident”. “Even without concrete knowledge of the perpetrator,” he said, “we have to call this a hybrid operation and must assume, without being certain, that this was sabotage.”
In an unusual joint statement, the German and Finnish foreign ministries condemned “hybrid warfare by malicious actors”.
At the weekend, Danish military ships followed a Chinese vessel, Yi Peng 3, through the Baltic, leading to speculation of a link to the incident.
A year ago Finland found that another Chinese ship called Newnew Polar Bear damaged a Baltic gas pipeline. The Newnew Polar Bear was flagged in Hong Kong and its owner, a Chinese logistics company with reportedly strong Russian connections, insisted the damage was accidental.
They think the Chinese did it. Also damaging a gas pipeline last year. China getting bold, or coincidence?
I am not aware what cutting finish cables will get them. Any thoughts?
Practice for other more important/bigger data cables?
