Finland is investigating the possible Christmas Day “sabotage” of an undersea power cable linking the country with Estonia under the Baltic Sea.
Electricity transmission between Finland and Estonia through the Estlink 2 connection was cut at 12:26pm (1026 GMT) local time on Wednesday, according to Finnish grid operator Fingrid.
“The possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out,” said Arto Pakhin, Fingrid’s operations manager, to public broadcaster Yle.
“However, we are examining the situation as a whole and will provide further information once the cause is identified,” it added.
Petteri Orpo, the Finnish prime minister, wrote on X that “authorities are still on standby over Christmas and are investigating the matter”.
Local police are investigating “whether the foreign cargo ship” Xin Xin Tian 2 carrying the Hong Kong flag “is connected to the damage”.
Petteri Orpo, the Finnish prime minister, said that ‘authorities are still on standby over Christmas and are investigating the matter’ – Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images
The Eagle S crude oil tanker flying the flag of the Cook Islands was also located at the site of the power cable at the time, with Finnish news agency SST reporting that this vessel is part of the sanction-busting “dark fleet” shipping Russian oil around the globe.
It left from the Russian port of Ust-Luga on Christmas Eve.
The Estonian chairman of foreign affairs said “closing the Baltic Sea to vessels flying certain flags should not be ruled out” if assumptions about sabotage turned out to be true.
Police are investigating whether the foreign cargo ship Xin Xin Tian 2, carrying the Hong Kong flag, ‘is connected to the damage’ – Adriana Romanova/Marine Traffic
The Baltic Sea has witnessed multiple infrastructure incidents since the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In October 2023, the Hong Kong-registered Newnew Polar Bear cargo ship was linked to damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline, with Chinese authorities claiming it was an accident. This is a sister ship to the Xin Xin Tian 2, Swedish paper Aftonbladet reports.
A Finnish-Estonian undersea gas pipeline was also damaged in October after a Chinese cargo ship reportedly dropped its anchor.
And in mid November two data cables, one running between Finland and Germany, and another between Lithuania and Sweden were severed, with the Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3 suspected of involvement.
The Swedish foreign minister said on Monday that China had denied a request for prosecutors to conduct an investigation on the vessel Yi Peng 3, and that the ship left the area it had been anchored in despite the investigation.
China confirmed the cargo ship had departed in order to “ensure the physical and mental well-being of the crew” after being “suspended for a long period of time”.
This came after Boris Pistorius, German’s defence minister, warned on Sunday that Russia was “engaging in hybrid attacks” adding that “Germany is particularly in focus” in the run-up to snap federal elections in February.
“He knows us well, Putin knows how to make pinpricks in us,” the defence minister told the Funke media group. “Ignoring this threat because it makes us uncomfortable will not make it smaller but rather larger.”
Mr Pistorius’ comments follow a warning by German spy chiefs about an increased Kremlin threat in October.
A press conference by the Finnish police and coastguard is expected later on Thursday.
