Finland - Estonia pipeline sabotaged

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pmbug

pmbug

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A subsea gas pipeline and a telecommunications cable connecting Finland and Estonia have both sustained damage, and the location of the outage has been identified, the Finnish government said on Tuesday.

"It is likely that damage to both the gas pipeline and the communication cable is the result of outside activity," President Sauli Niinisto said in a statement.
...
"The fall in pipeline pressure was quite fast, which would indicate it's not a minor breach. But the cause of it remains unclear," said a Baltic energy official with knowledge of the situation, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
...
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https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/othe...maged-gas-pipeline-telecoms-cable/ar-AA1hYPVx

I'm not sure what to make of this as yet. Russia lashing out at Finland for joining NATO? Maybe it wasn't a deliberate act at all and a submersible had an accident?
 
Same ship mentioned above was identified hanging around the Nord Stream pipeline in June:

 


tenor.gif
 
STOCKHOLM, Oct 17 (Reuters) – A Baltic Sea telecom cable connecting Sweden with Estonia was damaged at roughly the same time as a Finnish-Estonian pipeline and cable were earlier this month, but remains operational, Sweden’s civil defense minister said on Tuesday.

gcaptain.com

Sweden Says Telecom Cable with Estonia Damaged

STOCKHOLM, Oct 17 (Reuters) – A Baltic Sea telecom cable connecting Sweden with Estonia was damaged at roughly the same time as a Finnish-Estonian pipeline and cable were earlier this month, but...
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com
 
Sounds like someone has a grudge with Estonia.
 
thebarentsobserver.com

Russian, Chinese ships spotlighted by Finnish police after pipeline damage, are now pairing up outside northern Norway

The Sevmorput and Newnew Polar Bear sailed over the Balticconnector and the telecom cable in pair at the time the damage occurred. Now, they are following each other outside northern Norway, en route to Asia via the northern coast of Siberia.
thebarentsobserver.com thebarentsobserver.com
___________________________________________________________________

en.wikipedia.org

Sevmorput - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

www.arctictoday.com

Chinese Container Ship Completes First Round Trip Voyage Across Arctic - ArcticToday

Article by High North News Chinese shipping company NewNew Shipping Line has completed the first round-trip voyage of the inaugural regular liner service connecting China to western Russia via the Arctic. The company’s NewNew Polar Bear (新新北极熊), capable of carrying up to 1,638 standard...
www.arctictoday.com www.arctictoday.com
 
apnews.com

Anchor of Chinese container vessel caused damage to Balticconnector gas pipeline, Finnish police say

Finnish investigators say they believe an anchor of a Chinese container ship was dislodged and caused the damage to the undersea Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia on the Baltic Sea earlier this month.
apnews.com apnews.com

maritime-executive.com

Chinese Boxship is Primary Suspect in Baltic Pipeline Breach

Last week, Finnish investigators confirmed that they were looking at the movements of a Russian icebreaker and a Chinese boxship in connection with se...
maritime-executive.com maritime-executive.com
 
If you watch on youtube there's some links below the vid with more info.

NewNew Polar Bear Had an Anchor Fall Off | Finland-Estonia Gas and Telecommunication Cables Severed​

Oct 25, 2023


14:31
 
Estonia government facing criticism from the people over their radio silence on the cable/pipe issue:

Despite the heightened public attention, initial reports from the investigation of recent damage to an undersea gas pipeline and communications cables in the Baltic Sea have tended to reach Estonia via its neighbors Sweden and Finland. Estonian authorities and prosecutors claim they're not keeping info back, but Prime Minister Kaja Kallas (Reform) admits that their communication with the public could be better.
...
For example, a week after the Balticconnector gas pipeline was damaged, Swedish authorities announced that a communications cable between Sweden and Estonia had been damaged that same night. Estonian authorities were aware of the damages, located off the coast of the western island of Hiiumaa, but the public was not informed about it.

"As it wasn't initially known whether that may be related to this, we proceeded based on the principle that there's no sense in alarming anyone for nothing because the cables are constantly out of order," Kallas said, justifying the decision to keep mum about it.

"The people of Estonia shouldn't be hearing about cable disruptions occurring in Estonia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) from Swedish ministers," Koort said. "This should certainly be the duty of Estonian ministers and authorities to inform [the public] about it. There's been a bit of lagging behind here, to put it mildly."
...
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news.err.ee

PM admits Estonia could better relay latest on pipeline, cables damage

Despite the heightened public attention, initial reports from the investigation of recent damage to an undersea gas pipeline and communications cables in the Baltic Sea have tended to reach Estonia via its neighbors Sweden and Finland. Estonian authorities and prosecutors claim they're not...
news.err.ee news.err.ee

I'm guessing NATO allies told them to STFU until they figured out if they wanted to start WW3 or not...
 
Hmmm....

The damage to a telecommunications cable running under the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Estonia was “purposeful,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday but declined to be drawn on the details.

“We will not be more precise than that as of today," Kristersson said at a press conference, after Swedish divers had investigated the seabed.

A spokesman for the Swedish Navy, Jimmie Adamsson, told Swedish public broadcaster SVT that “we see seabed tracks nearby, but we don’t know if it’s deliberate or an accident.”
...
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The damage to a Baltic undersea cable was 'purposeful,' Swedish leader says but gives no details

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The damage to a telecommunications cable running under the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Estonia was “purposeful,” Swedish Prime Minist...
infotel.ca infotel.ca

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is likely going to get his hands slapped for jumping the gun here.
 
pmbug said:
I think the physical evidence is pretty clear. The only real question is whether it was deliberate/intentional or an accident.
Click to expand...

Preferred to reply here.

Agree about the evidence and in my personal opinion it was intentional.

Russian and Chinese vessels together and then oops. Not a coincidence imo. Knowledgeable captains & crews on both boats. The governments of both countries at odds with the US, NATO & the west. Two and two here.

Hmm.........let's cut the pipeline, make it look like we were dragging anchor and see the response. Sabotage & intel gathering in one step.
 

Information Warfare in the Depths: An Analysis of Global Undersea Cable Networks​

The advent of the internet, WiFi, fiber optic cables, 5G, and satellite communications have dramatically changed the way the world stays connected and shares information. When the first submarine cable was installed in 1858, it could take up to 18 hours for a trans-Atlantic transmission to be completed. Today, there are approximately 750,000 miles of undersea cables stretching across the world’s oceans, and data management has become much more complex. According to a Department of Homeland Security Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) study, “Commercial undersea cable communications carry over 97 percent of all intercontinental electronic communications.” The U.S. Coast Guard Quarterly Collection Advisory Message also noted that undersea cable threats remain an enduring but underreported priority when assessing threats to the maritime transportation system. Approximately $10 trillion in transactions and limitless information are transmitted through undersea cables in both civilian and government sector assets every day. Maintaining the security of undersea cables is paramount to the United States’ maritime strategic interests.

 
Some neat stuff here.

Submarine Cable Map

TeleGeography's comprehensive and regularly updated interactive map of the world's major submarine cable systems and landing stations.
www.submarinecablemap.com www.submarinecablemap.com
 
COPENHAGEN, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Russia is repairing a telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea that suffered an outage last month, Finland said on Monday, adding the problem may be linked to other recent cases of damage to subsea infrastructure in the region.

gcaptain.com

Russian Telecoms Cable Added to List of Damaged Subsea Baltic Infrastructure

Russia is repairing a telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea that suffered an outage last month. The problem may be linked to other recent cases of damage to subsea infrastructure in the region.
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com
 
searcher said:
COPENHAGEN, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Russia is repairing a telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea that suffered an outage last month, Finland said on Monday, adding the problem may be linked to other recent cases of damage to subsea infrastructure in the region.

gcaptain.com

Russian Telecoms Cable Added to List of Damaged Subsea Baltic Infrastructure

Russia is repairing a telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea that suffered an outage last month. The problem may be linked to other recent cases of damage to subsea infrastructure in the region.
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com
Click to expand...

The scope of damage from a suspected anchor-dragging incident involving a Chinese ship in the Baltic may have been larger than previously reported, according to Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. In addition to a ruptured gas pipeline and two damaged telecom cables connecting three NATO member states, a Russian fiber-optic cable was also reported damaged during roughly the same timeframe, the ministry revealed Monday.


maritime-executive.com

Anchor-Drag Incident off Finland May Have Damaged Russian Telecom Cable

The scope of damage from a suspected anchor-dragging incident involving a Chinese ship in the Baltic may have been larger than previously reported, ac...
maritime-executive.com maritime-executive.com
 
Estonia’s State Prosecutor joined with its counterparts in Finland in declaring that they had found evidence of human activity to the damaged communications lines in the Baltic and identified a Chinese containership as the primary suspect. Estonia reports it has filed an official request for cooperation from the Chinese authorities for the investigation into the containership NewNew Polar Bear.

maritime-executive.com

Estonia Also Targets Chinese Ship After Finding Evidence on Damaged Cable

Estonia’s State Prosecutor joined with its counterparts in Finland in declaring that they had found evidence of human activity to the damaged communi...
maritime-executive.com maritime-executive.com
 
(Bloomberg) –Finland will demand its investigators be allowed on board the NewNew Polar Bear, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel whose anchor ripped up a subsea gas pipeline near Finnish waters in October, President Sauli Niinisto said.

gcaptain.com

Finland Demands Investigators On Vessel That Broke Gas Pipeline

By Kati Pohjanpalo (Bloomberg) –Finland will demand its investigators be allowed on board the NewNew Polar Bear, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel whose anchor ripped up a subsea gas pipeline near Finnish...
gcaptain.com gcaptain.com
 
A Chinese container ship remains the focus of an investigation into what caused the damage last year to a Baltic Sea gas pipeline between NATO members Finland and Estonia, Finnish authorities said Thursday.

It has been more than six months since substantial, human-made damage that caused a major drop in pressure was first detected in the Balticconnector pipeline in Finnish economic waters on Oct. 8. Gas system operators in Finland and Estonia — Gasgrid Finland and Elering — were forced to shut it down, disconnecting a crucial link between the Nordic and Baltic gas markets for several months.
...
The “investigation has progressed, and there has been cooperation with the Chinese authorities probing the case,” Detective Supt. Risto Lohi, NBI’s head of the investigation, told The Associated Press.

“The main line of investigation has remained unchanged — the cargo ship Newnew Polar Bear and its anchor are considered to be related to the pipeline damage,” Lohi said.

Finnish investigators haven't said whether they believe the damage allegedly caused by the Chinese vessel was done intentionally or whether it was caused by incompetent seafaring, as suggested by some experts.
...
Grönlund said the total cost of the pipeline repair work, performed entirely by remote-controlled equipment at a depth of 60 meters (around 200 feet), is estimated at around 35 million euros ($38 million).

It remains open as to who will pick up the bill.
...
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...ea-gas-pipeline-damaged-last-year/ar-AA1nEMoL

The evidence is clearly pointing to the NewNew Polar Bear being responsible for the damage - whether intentional or not. You'd think there would be a viable insurance claim against the operating company.
 
I'm no expert on international maritime insurance claims and I did not stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.
 
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