Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (The Greens) considers it established that Russia intentionally damaged underwater cables in the Baltic Sea. She is therefore calling for further sanctions against the country. The Funke Media Group quoted Baerbock as saying, “Ships are currently damaging important underwater cables in the Baltic Sea at a nearly monthly rate. Crews let anchors into the water, pull them out of sight for kilometers across the seafloor, and then lose them when lifting them up.”
She does not believe this is an accident, she added.
She demanded that the critical infrastructure be better protected. The damage to the 170-kilometer-long underwater cable “EstLink 2” between Estonia and Finland is “a wake-up call for all of us”.
The perpetrator of the damage has not yet been identified. So far, there are only assumptions. Finnish authorities have detained a tanker flying the flag of the Cook Islands, suspecting that the anchor of the tanker may have caused the damage. The EU claims the tanker is part of the so-called Russian shadow fleet. The actual owners of freight and tankers are often difficult to determine.
Baerbock joined the EU’s demands:
“The current incident shows once again: The often aging Russian shadow fleet, to which the tanker now detained by Finland belongs, is a great threat to our environment and our security. With it, Russia finances its illegal war of aggression in Ukraine.”
Baerbock did not mention the danger posed by the Nord Stream pipeline explosion or the attack itself in this context.
The attack on Nord Stream was a direct attack on Germany’s energy infrastructure. The perpetrators are still unknown. The German government also shows little enthusiasm for investigating this at all. Although also damaged, Russia was excluded from the investigation.
The damage caused by the Nord Stream attack far exceeds the damage to the damaged underwater cable by a multiple.