China acknowledged that the “Balticconnector” pipeline had damaged a Chinese ship, but called the incident accidental.
This was reported by the South China Morning Post.
According to the publication, the Chinese authorities conducted an internal investigation and recently reported its results to the governments of European countries. China claims that the accident was caused by a strong storm.
China also handed over the materials of its own investigation into the damage to the pipeline to Finland and Estonia.
What happened at “Balticconnector”
On October 8, 2023, a gas pipeline in the Finnish economic zone and a telecommunications cable in the Estonian economic zone connecting the countries were damaged. Finland later reported that the leak from the “Balticconnector” gas pipeline occurred "due to external activity." No traces of explosives were found. Sweden later said that the third line, which connects 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 at the bottom of the sea. 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.