Baltic cable sabotage risks triggering NATO response
Two undersea cables have been damaged in the Baltic Sea. The Finnish newspaper "Iltalehti" points to the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3, which made suspicious movements near the failure site. The Danish fleet is monitoring the vessel.
According to an announcement by the Telia corporation on Monday, a telecommunications undersea cable running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Sweden has been damaged. On the same day, the Finnish company Cinia reported a cable connecting Helsinki with Rostock, Germany, rupturing.
"No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally. I also don't want to believe in versions that these were anchors that accidentally caused damage over these cables," said Pistorius, ahead of a meeting with EU defence ministers in Brussels, as quoted by Reuters.
Chinese ship under scrutiny
The Finnish newspaper "Iltalehti" reports that the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 was near the area of the failure. The ship reported a tracking system failure and changed course at the cable intersection. Danish vessels, including the frigate HDMS Niels Juel, monitor the vessel.
The Chinese ship Yi Peng 3, which had previously stopped at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia, is currently under the supervision of the Danish fleet. On Sunday, it reported a tracking system failure, and on Monday, it changed its course at the cable intersection, raising suspicions.
Finland on invoking Article 5
A Finnish politician suggested that if a "state entity" is behind the damage to the telecommunications undersea cables in the Baltic Sea detected on Monday, NATO's Article 5, concerning collective defence (the alliance clause), could be invoked.
"If it turns out I'm not saying specifically about these incidents but if several acts are perpetrated by a single state actor, it is obviously a matter of foreign and security policy," argued Valtonen, emphasizing that the recent cable damages between Finland and Germany, as well as between Lithuania and Sweden, running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, are under investigation. She will not "speculate" on the matter.
"It’s not just military attacks that are taken seriously. We take all these matters seriously. If intentional action is involved, it will be regarded as an attack against a free democratic society," she said, recalling that NATO meetings in the summer decided that Article 5 can also be applied in cases of hybrid actions.
