Baltic Sea cable: Danish Navy shadows Chinese ship

After two underwater cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea, the Danish Navy said it was tailing a Chinese ship that was near one of the cables. Meanwhile, the Kremlin sharply rejected allegations of Russian involvement in the incidents. China stressed that its ships were following the rules.

Damage had previously been reported within 48 hours to both a telecommunications cable between Germany and Finland and a Baltic Sea cable between Sweden and Lithuania. According to the ship tracking website Marinetraffic, the “Yi Peng 3”, built in 2001 and owned by the Chinese company Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, was on Monday near the damaged “Cinia C-Lion1” cable, which runs between Rostock and Helsinki.

According to the Finnish technology group Cinia, the defect in the cable was discovered on Sunday evening in Swedish waters south of the island of Ölland. Damage to the Arelion underwater cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania was already noticed on Sunday morning, as the Swedish telecommunications group Telia announced in Lithuania.

On Wednesday night, the suspicious Chinese ship was in the Kattegat between Denmark and southwest Sweden. Swedish police also said on Wednesday that they were interested in a ship that had been spotted near the cables. She did not provide any further details about the ship.

Finnish and Swedish media had previously reported that the “Yi Peng 3” could have played a role in the incidents. The ship left the Baltic Sea early on Tuesday morning and had previously passed through a Russian port, reports said.

For his part, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said he was not aware of the situation. However, China “fully fulfills its obligations as a flag state” and requires Chinese ships to strictly adhere to laws and regulations.

After the incident, several European politicians made accusations towards Moscow and spoke of a “hybrid war”. After Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) declared on Monday that “sabotage” had to be assumed, the heads of government of Denmark and Sweden joined in on Wednesday.

“We are closely following what the relevant authorities say and I would not be surprised if an external actor carried out the sabotage,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Due to the tensions around the Baltic Sea, there is a risk of hybrid attacks, cyber attacks and attacks on critical infrastructure. “We are seeing more and more unrest on multiple fronts,” added Frederiksen. Her Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson told the Swedish news agency TT that it could “very well be deliberate sabotage.” “We’ve seen sabotage before.”

Official investigations into suspected sabotage have been launched in Finland and Sweden, with federal police support from Germany. The “Bild” newspaper reported that a federal police coast guard ship would also be deployed for this purpose and will be sailing out shortly.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, referring to accusations directed at Moscow, that it was “absurd to continue to accuse Russia of everything without any basis.” He described the allegations as “ridiculous.” Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there have been repeated cases in the Baltic Sea that suggested possible sabotage.