Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.
A top German defense official has announced that he believes the recent severing of two critical undersea telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea was sabotage.
Let’s bring you up to speed: Yesterday, news broke of the severing of two critical undersea telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea, disrupting vital data connections in the region. The first incident occurred on Sunday morning, affecting an internet cable linking Lithuania to the Swedish island of Gotland. The second incident, reported early Monday, damaged a nearly 1,200-kilometer cable connecting Finland to the German port of Rostock—the only direct link of its kind between Finland and Central Europe. Both cables sustained complete damage, leaving operators unable to assess the cause until repairs commence.
What’s going on now: While speaking to reporters, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said, “No one believes these cables were severed by mistake, and I also don’t want to believe versions that it was anchors that by chance caused damage to these cables. So we have to state — without knowing in concrete terms who it came from — that this is a hybrid action. And we also have to assume — without already knowing it, obviously — that this is sabotage.”
Digging deeper: This all comes as some European authorities are digging into the movements of a Chinese-registered vessel, Yi Peng 3, which passed near both damaged cables around the time of their severing. The ship, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga and is heading to Egypt, traveled along the Swedish-Lithuanian and Finnish-German cables on Sunday and Monday.
Sweden’s Minister of Civil Defense, Carl-Oscar Bohlin, announced Tuesday that ship movements recorded by the Swedish Armed Forces and Coast Guard coincided with the disruption of two telecommunications cables on the Baltic Sea floor, prompting Swedish police to investigate potential sabotage.
More to come
