BERLIN:
Germany mentioned on Saturday the suspected sabotage of an undersea energy cable linking Finland and Estonia this week was a “wake-up name” that demanded new EU sanctions towards Russia’s “shadow fleet”.
The Estlink 2 cable that carries electrical energy from Finland to Estonia was disconnected from the grid on Wednesday, simply over a month after two telecommunications cables have been severed in Swedish territorial waters within the Baltic.
“Virtually each month, ships are damaging main undersea cables within the Baltic Sea,” German International Minister Annalena Baerbock mentioned in a press release to the Funke media group.
“Crews are leaving anchors within the water, dragging them for kilometres alongside the seafloor for no obvious motive, after which dropping them when pulling them up,” she mentioned.
“It is greater than troublesome to nonetheless imagine in coincidences. That is an pressing wake-up name for all of us.”
Baerbock urged “new European sanctions towards the Russian shadow fleet”, ships that transport Russian crude and oil merchandise regardless of embargoes imposed over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The fleet is “a serious menace to our surroundings and safety” that’s utilized by Russia “to finance its warfare of aggression in Ukraine”, she mentioned.
Finnish authorities mentioned on Thursday they have been investigating the oil tanker, Eagle S, that sailed from a Russian port, as a part of a probe into “aggravated sabotage” of the Estlink cable.
NATO will bolster its navy presence within the Baltic Sea in response, the Western alliance’s secretary normal, Mark Rutte, mentioned on Friday.