Swedish investigators are looking into the movements of a Chinese vessel in the Baltic Sea after two internet cables were severed in what some Western leaders suspect was an act of sabotage.
According to ship tracking data, Yi Peng 3, a Chinese-registered bulk carrier, passed close to the Swedish-Lithuanian and Finnish-German cables at the time both were mysteriously damaged on Sunday and Monday.
Sweden is now “taking a hard look” at Yi Peng 3 and the role it might have played in both incidents, a source familiar with the investigation told the Financial Times.
The vessel had been travelling from Ust-Luga, in Russia, to Port Said, in Egypt, through the Baltic Sea when the 730-mile fibre optic cable C-Lion1 – the only such direct connection between central Europe and Finland – and another cable were cut, causing some internet outages in Lithuania.
A Danish navy vessel appears to have pursued the Yi Peng 3 on Tuesday evening, according to marine traffic data. The same data showed HDMS Soloeleven, another Danish military ship, staying close to the Chinese carrier on Wednesday morning.
A Danish military spokesman told The Telegraph: “The Danish Defence [ministry] can confirm that we are present in the area near the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3.”
The Yi Peng 3 is owned by Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, which owns only one other vessel and is based near Ningbo, an eastern Chinese port city. It was not immediately possible to reach the company for comment.
The incident comes roughly a year after a Chinese vessel’s anchor damaged a Baltic gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. Neither country has confirmed whether the damage was an accident or intentional.
Boris Pistorius, the German defence minister, said he believed the C-Lion1 cable was cut deliberately, a view echoed by other EU governments on Tuesday.
“Nobody believes these cables were accidentally severed,” he said. “Therefore, we have to state, without knowing specifically who it came from, that it is a ‘hybrid’ action. And we also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage.”
‘Escalating hybrid activities’
Hybrid warfare is a Russian strategy to destabilise Nato allies through attacks on critical infrastructure and attempts to sabotage facilities in Europe, which support the Ukrainian army.
A joint statement by France, Italy, Germany, Poland and Britain had previously suggested that Russia was the prime suspect in the cable incident.
“Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against Nato and EU countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks,” the statement said.
Lithuania said it had increased security patrols around its maritime borders, and Poland threatened to close all Russian consulates if such attacks continued.
US officials have expressed scepticism about the sabotage theory. CNN reported on Tuesday that Washington has not seen any indications of “nefarious activity”, citing two US officials.
On Wednesday, the Kremlin rejected “laughable” suggestions it was involved, saying that it was “absurd to keep blaming Russia for anything without any grounds”.
The Chinese embassy in London has been approached for comment.
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