A pair of ships from Russia and China are at the centre of an investigation into the suspected sabotage of an undersea natural gas pipeline and telecom cables linking Sweden, Estonia and Finland, Finnish authorities confirmed Thursday.Finnish investigators named two civilian vessels operating in the area on October 8 when the damage to both the pipeline and cables were first reported: the NewNew Polar Bear, a Hong Kong-registered container ship that transits to Europe via the Arctic; and the Sevmorput, a Russian-flagged nuclear powered cargo vessel transiting between Murmansk and St. Petersburg..We can't say at the moment what caused this damage" Sweden Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin.The data was corroborated by MarineTraffic, a GPS based maritime analytics tracker that placed both vessels on the exact spot within minutes of each other.At the same time, Swedish officials confirmed a second telecom cable in waters outside its territorial waters to Estonia had been severed but that it remains in operation."We can't say at the moment what caused this damage," the country's civil defence minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin told a news conference."But what we can say is that this damage has happened at a similar time and in physical proximity ... to the damage that was previously reported to a gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland and a telecommunications cable between Estonia and Finland.".The Sevmorput has mainly been contracted by the Russian Ministry of Defence for transporting cargo related to the development of military infrastructure in the Arctic..Authorities said at the time they “strongly” suspected sabotage as a possible cause following a pair of undersea blasts that knocked out the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September of last year.The cause of that incident is still being determined but Russian sabotage is strongly suspected in those incidents as well.It comes after Sweden and Finland both voted to join the NATO military alliance earlier this year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Estonia is already a member.NATO officials — who have vowed a “response” if sabotage is indeed the cause of the breaks — told Reuters the alliance was in close contact with both countries and monitoring the situation..The owner of the Russian vessel, a subsidiary of Russian nuclear industry company Rosatom, rejected any suggestion its vessel had been involved as "groundless" in a statement also reported by Reuters. Rosatom operates the world’s only fleet of nuclear powered icebreaking cargo vessels. Although the company operates civilian tours, the Sevmorput has mainly been contracted by the Russian Ministry of Defence for transporting cargo related to the development of military infrastructure in the Arctic.Earlier this week Vladimir Putin dismissed the notion that Russia was involved in either incident as “rubbish.”
A pair of ships from Russia and China are at the centre of an investigation into the suspected sabotage of an undersea natural gas pipeline and telecom cables linking Sweden, Estonia and Finland, Finnish authorities confirmed Thursday.Finnish investigators named two civilian vessels operating in the area on October 8 when the damage to both the pipeline and cables were first reported: the NewNew Polar Bear, a Hong Kong-registered container ship that transits to Europe via the Arctic; and the Sevmorput, a Russian-flagged nuclear powered cargo vessel transiting between Murmansk and St. Petersburg..We can't say at the moment what caused this damage" Sweden Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin.The data was corroborated by MarineTraffic, a GPS based maritime analytics tracker that placed both vessels on the exact spot within minutes of each other.At the same time, Swedish officials confirmed a second telecom cable in waters outside its territorial waters to Estonia had been severed but that it remains in operation."We can't say at the moment what caused this damage," the country's civil defence minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin told a news conference."But what we can say is that this damage has happened at a similar time and in physical proximity ... to the damage that was previously reported to a gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland and a telecommunications cable between Estonia and Finland.".The Sevmorput has mainly been contracted by the Russian Ministry of Defence for transporting cargo related to the development of military infrastructure in the Arctic..Authorities said at the time they “strongly” suspected sabotage as a possible cause following a pair of undersea blasts that knocked out the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September of last year.The cause of that incident is still being determined but Russian sabotage is strongly suspected in those incidents as well.It comes after Sweden and Finland both voted to join the NATO military alliance earlier this year in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Estonia is already a member.NATO officials — who have vowed a “response” if sabotage is indeed the cause of the breaks — told Reuters the alliance was in close contact with both countries and monitoring the situation..The owner of the Russian vessel, a subsidiary of Russian nuclear industry company Rosatom, rejected any suggestion its vessel had been involved as "groundless" in a statement also reported by Reuters. Rosatom operates the world’s only fleet of nuclear powered icebreaking cargo vessels. Although the company operates civilian tours, the Sevmorput has mainly been contracted by the Russian Ministry of Defence for transporting cargo related to the development of military infrastructure in the Arctic.Earlier this week Vladimir Putin dismissed the notion that Russia was involved in either incident as “rubbish.”
