Finland - Estonia pipeline sabotaged

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

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.
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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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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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pmbug said:

I think the physical evidence is pretty clear. The only real question is whether it was deliberate/intentional or an accident.

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

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.

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

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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.
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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.
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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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pmbug said:

a viable insurance claim against the operating company.

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