Several days after successive damage to two underwater telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea, which raised fears of a hybrid war, a Chinese commercial ship appears, according to data analyzed by the worldthe main suspect in this possible unprecedented sabotage.
From Tuesday, November 19 to the end of the day, while heading towards the exit from the Baltic Sea, the Yi Peng 3A 225 meter long bulk carrier is stopped in the middle of the Kattegat Strait, between the Danish and Swedish coasts. Under the custody of a long-silent Danish navy frigate, the kingdom’s armed forces ended up recognizing, on Wednesday, their presence next to the Chinese ship. Contrary to what many online reports suggest, Denmark had not boarded the ship as of mid-morning on Thursday.
The Danish Defense Minister was very cautious at the end of the day on Wednesday: “We still do not know the extent of the incident or whether it was sabotage.” said Troëls Lund Poulsen. The same caution on the Swedish side, while the investigations seem to be in the hands of Stockholm, since the two breakpoints of the cables are in its exclusive economic zone. The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, stated that China had “always fully complied with its obligations as a flag State”adding require “Chinese ships that scrupulously respect current laws and regulations”.
A police investigation was quickly opened by the International and Organized Crime Unit, with the help of the Swedish Coast Guard and Navy. “The police and the prosecution are interested in a boat that was seen at the place in question. The ship is not currently in Swedish waters »according to a police news release. According to Swedish public television sources, the investigation focuses especially on the Yi Peng 3. To understand this, we have to go back a few days.
A ship with a very suspicious trajectory
This bulk carrier left Russia. Its AIS beacon, the computer system that allows it to be visible to other ships, points on November 10 to the port of Ust-Luga, about one hundred kilometers from Saint Petersburg. In a satellite photograph taken that day at 1:37 p.m. (French time), it is seen docked at the large oil and LNG port. The dimensions of the ship and the emission times of its beacon allowed World to identify it. We are a week away from cables breaking in the Baltic Sea.
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