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Finland announced that a Russian cable was also damaged in the Baltic Sea

Author:
Liza Brovko
Date:

The Ministry of Economy of Finland reported that a Russian telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea also failed in October, as did underwater infrastructure in Estonia, Sweden and Finland.

"Reuters" writes about it.

The 1,000-kilometer "Baltika" Russian cable, owned by the state-owned "Rostelecom", stretches from St. Petersburg to Kaliningrad.

Finland refused to comment on whether the "Baltika" incident was related to damage to Finnish, Estonian and Swedish infrastructure.

"Rostelecom" first informed the Finnish authorities about the break in its telecommunications cable on October 12, four days after the incidents with other countries.

What happened to the gas pipeline and cables between the countries?

On October 8, a gas pipeline in the Finnish economic zone and a telecommunications cable in the Estonian economic zone connecting the countries were damaged. Finnish investigators believe it may have been sabotage, but are not yet sure. Then Finland reported that the leak from the “Balticconnector” gas pipeline occurred "due to external activity". No traces of explosives were found. Sweden later said that a third line connecting Stockholm and Tallinn was damaged around the same time as the other two. The case involves the Chinese vessel “NewNew Polar Bear” and the Russian “Sevmorput”. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation believes that the gas pipeline damaged the anchor, which was found on the seabed. And Estonia considers three incidents of damage to underwater gas pipelines and cables to be "related".

“Balticconnector” is a gas pipeline that has two branches. It transports natural gas between Finland and Estonia depending on supply and demand. The length of the “Balticconnector” is 77 kilometers, it began operation in 2020. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg promised a "decisive response" if a deliberate attack on the “Balticconnector” gas pipeline is proven.