Russian sabotage suspected in European infrastructure failures

Have the Russians carried out effective sabotage throughout Europe since the beginning of the war? The services of almost all countries where unusual events have occurred are currently seeking confirmation of this thesis. However, it is already known that Russian involvement appears at many stages of the investigation.

It is no secret that in many European countries, after the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, there has been increasing talk about the risk of Russian sabotage and diversion. These debates were usually additionally motivated by the fact that after 2022, there were "unusual" failures around gas pipelines or critical infrastructure points.

Some of the louder situations included damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines or the equally important Balticconnector for Scandinavian countries. The latter case particularly draws attention because, as WSJ journalists point out, the Finnish investigation reveals surprisingly many Russian-Chinese connections.

Preliminary investigation results indicate that when the gas pipeline pressure dropped, the nearest vessel was a Chinese container ship. Unsurprisingly, it was travelling from the Kaliningrad Region. For this reason, Finnish investigators suspect that the anchor used in this sabotage came from the ship Newnew Polar Bear.

Unfortunately, despite the quick intervention, Scandinavian police officers could not inspect this unit then. When they arrived on the scene, it was already in international waters. Thus, the investigation could not be concluded in 2023.

However, this strange coincidence was observed not only in the Estonian-Finnish gas pipeline. Similar suspicions towards Russians were directed by, among others, the British, who have been battling a massive wave of cyberattacks for several months. Much closer, in Germany, strategic infrastructure is systematically attacked.

Whether this was the case will be proven by individual investigations. However, the fact remains that as a frontline state and a significant support hub for Ukraine, Poland is particularly vulnerable to attacks by foreign services.