Stockholm is investigating the possible involvement of the Chinese-flagged ship Yi Peng 3 in the damage to two underwater telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea between Finland-Germany and Sweden-Lithuania. This was reported by the British newspaper Financial Times with reference to sources.
In the evening, the Danish Navy boarded the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng in the Baltic Sea.
According to Financial Times sources, Sweden has launched an investigation into the damage to both cables and is investigating the role that Yi Peng 3 may have played.
“The Swedes are carefully studying the Chinese ship,” — the source told the newspaper.
The publication notes that after the damage to the cables, the ship was closely monitored by the Danish Navy.
As reported, on November 17 and 18, two cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea. The first cable runs along the Nord Stream gas pipeline; The press service of the Finnish state-owned telecommunications infrastructure operator Cinia reported on its malfunction. The damage to the second cable was later reported by a representative of the Swedish telecommunications company Telia. The Swedish prosecutor’s office has launched a preliminary investigation into the breakage of the cable and has classified the crime as sabotage.
In this regard EADaily It draws attention to why there is suspicion that the damage to these underwater telecommunications cables could have been caused by a Chinese freighter. A similar case was reported in August. As The South China Morning Post reported, “Beijing has acknowledged that a Chinese-owned ship damaged a critical Baltic Sea gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland last October, but says it was an accident.”
The pipeline was built more to supply gas to Finland, which also receives fuel through LNG terminals. The state-owned company Gasum refused to switch to the new payment mechanism and Gazprom suspended supplies in 2022.
Finnish authorities suspected that the Balticconnector gas pipeline crossing the Baltic Sea from Estonia had damaged the Hong Kong-flagged container ship Newnew Polar Bear. It was in an anchorage in the gas pipeline area, and after the gas pipeline was damaged on October 8, an anchor was found there, which may belong to the ship. This was stated by the Finnish National Research Office. The ship loaded in St. Petersburg and left for China via the Northern Sea Route. More than six months later, the gas pipeline was restored.
