In the face of a surge of suspected sabotage attacks on underwater cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea, SPD leader Lars Klingbeil has called for more determination from the Europeans in dealing with Russia. In an interview with the Funke Media Group (Tuesday editions), Klingbeil said: “The events show that it is a misconception to believe that President Putin is only waging a war against Ukraine. Hybrid attacks on our critical infrastructure are also on the rise in Europe, including at our borders.”
The Baltic Sea coastal states must improve the protection and control of their critical infrastructure and be vigilant, Klingbeil said. Referring to the recent damage to the Estlink 2 power cable, allegedly caused by a Russian shadow fleet tanker, the SPD leader said: “In the case of the damaged underwater cable between Finland and Estonia, the Finnish authorities quickly acted and arrested a ship with connections to Russia. This is exactly the determination that the EU now also needs.”
The damage to Estlink 2 was discovered on the first day of Christmas. Finland and the Brussels EU Commission suspect that the tanker, flying the flag of the Cook Islands, was on a Russian mission to evade Western sanctions. Investigators have since found a several dozen-kilometer-long scratch on the seafloor, which could be from a ship’s anchor. There have been similar incidents in the Baltic Sea in recent months, with, for example, a data cable damaged that connects Rostock to Helsinki.