Baerbock issues warning after cable damage: “Urgent wake-up call”
Cables are repeatedly being damaged in the Baltic Sea. The Foreign Minister says she does not believe in coincidences and warns against the Russian “shadow fleet”.
Berlin (dpa/d.de) – Calling for further EU sanctions, Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has warned against the Russian “shadow fleet” following damage to an underwater power cable off Finland. “Ships are currently damaging important submarine cables in the Baltic Sea almost every month. Crews lower anchors into the water, drag them for miles across the seabed for no apparent reason and then lose them when trying to pull them up,” the Minister said in an interview. She said she found it difficult to believe in coincidences. “This is an urgent wake-up call for us all. In a digitalised world, submarine cables are the communication arteries that hold our world together,” warned Baerbock, adding that better protection was required for critical infrastructure.
The 170-kilometre Estlink 2 connection between Estonia and Finland was disrupted on Wednesday. The Finnish authorities suspect sabotage and detained the oil tanker Eagle S, which flies the Cook Islands flag. Its anchor could have caused the damage to the cable. According to the EU, the ship is said to belong to the so-called Russian “shadow fleet” – cargo ships that Russia uses to circumvent sanctions on such things as oil transport.