Accident or sabotage? USA and Europe argue about damaged Untersee cables

Accident or sabotage? USA and Europe argue about damaged Untersee cables

Investigators try to solve the riddle, such as Two Senseekabel Hours were damaged. European civil servants assume that the was a sabotage act could be an accident.

cable connections interrupted

The two cables-the BCS East-West, which connects Lithuania with Sweden, and C-Lion1, which Finland linked with Germany-were suddenly disturbed on Sunday and Monday.

reactions of European leadership

The European government agents immediately expressed their concern. Germany's Defense Minister Boris Pistorius emphasized: "Nobody believes that these cables were accidentally cut." The Foreign Minister of Finland and Germany expressed in a joint Your" deep concern "about the incident and meadows Opportunity that this could be part of a "hybrid war", with Russia was explicitly mentioned.

The disruption of the cables only occurred a few weeks after a warning from the USA that Attack critical sub -infrastructures . This was followed by suspicious movements of Russian ships in European waters and a significant increase in a secret Russian naval unit that is chosen with the examination of the sea floor.

examinations and possible causes

Two US officials who are familiar with the first assessment of the incident said CNN on Tuesday that the damage is not regarded as a deliberate act of Russia or another country. Instead, the two suspected that it was probably caused by the pulling of an anchor by a passing ship. Such accidents have taken place in the past, but not in such a faster episode as in the incidents on Sunday and Monday.

reactions from Moscow and Scandinavia

the Kremlin rejected the "ridiculous" suggestions on the incident on Wednesday and said that it was "absurd to blame Russia for anything without any reason." Nevertheless, law enforcement agencies in Sweden and Finland indicated that they considered the damage as deliberate.

The Swedish public prosecutor announced on Tuesday that it initiated a preliminary examination for suspected sabotage. On Wednesday, the Finnish National Investigation Office announced that it would open criminal proceedings due to suspected serious crimes and serious disorder of communication.

suspicious ships in focus

A certain ship has aroused the interest of the authorities and online investigators. The Chinese-registered ship Yi Peng 3 was spotted in the region when the two cables were damaged. The mass creation was previously docked in the Russian port of Vust-Luga.

The Danish armed forces reported on Wednesday that they were present near the Yi Peng 3, but did not comment on whether they followed the ship.

At a press conference on Wednesday, the spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, said that he "knew nothing about the situation". He added that China has always fully fulfilled its obligations as a flag state and that Chinese ships demanded strictly follow the relevant laws and regulations ".

"We also make great importance to the protection of the security of the infrastructures and actively work with the international community in promoting the structure and protection of submarine cables and other global information infrastructures," he emphasized.

The reporting was supported by Allegra Goodwin, Jim Sciutto, Paul P. Murphy and Stephanie Halasz from CNN.