He did not specifically incriminate Russia, adding that the two countries had not yet had any contact over the incident.
But Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said: “The damages to critical underwater infrastructure have become so frequent that it’s hard to believe they are accidents or just bad maritime manoeuvres.”
Dragging an anchor on the seafloor can hardly be considered an accident, Tsahkna added in a statement, after talks with his Finnish counterpart on Thursday afternoon.
The EU threatened further sanctions against Russian vessels.
“We strongly condemn any deliberate destruction of Europe’s critical infrastructure,” the European Commission and the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a joint statement.
“The suspected vessel is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia’s war budget,” they added.
“We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to target this fleet.”
European officials have said they suspect several of the incidents are sabotage linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has dismissed that claim as “absurd” and “laughable”.
EU tankers blacklist
EU countries agreed earlier this month to blacklist around 50 more oil tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet”, used to circumvent Western sanctions over the Ukraine war.
The move was part of a 15th package of sanctions to be imposed by the 27-nation bloc since Moscow’s invasion.
NATO chief Mark Rutte said on X on Thursday: “We are following investigations by Estonia and Finland, and we stand ready to provide further support.”
Tensions have mounted around the Baltic since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause of which has yet to be determined.
In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.
Early on November 17 this year, the Arelion telecommunications cable running from the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania was damaged.
The next day, the C-Lion 1 submarine cable connecting Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was cut south of Sweden’s Oland island.
Suspicions concerning the November 17 incident focused on a Chinese-flagged vessel, the Yi Peng 3, which was in the area at the time.
Sweden said Monday that China had denied a request for prosecutors to conduct an investigation on the vessel and that it had left the area.
© 2024 AFP
