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As Europe and the world brace for the consequences of the US and Western allies authorizing Ukraine to use their long-range missiles to strike Russian territory, there are strange things happening that suggest a widespread sabotage campaign has already begun.
Two undersea data cables went out of service and were presumably cut on Sunday and Monday – one between Finland and Germany and one between Lithuania and Sweden.
The cables are believed to have been likely ‘targeted by an external impact’.
Bloomberg reported:
“The 1,200-kilometer (750-mile) high-speed fiber optic Helsinki-Rostock link serving data centers is damaged in the Baltic Sea east of southern Sweden, and there’s a high likelihood that it’s completely cut as all of its fiber connections are down, executives of its owner and operator Cinia Oy said at a news conference.”
Besides the Cynia Oy cable, Lithuania’s largest communications provider, Telia Lietuva AB, also announced that an undersea data cable linking it with Sweden was cut Sunday.
The Lithuanian cable was reportedly within 10-meter proximity to the Finnish cable also targeted.
Cinia Chief Executive, Ari-Jussi Knaapila:
“We can say that such damage doesn’t happen without some kind of external impact.”
Joint statement by German and Finnish foreign ministries:
“We are deeply concerned about the severed undersea cable connecting Finland and Germany in the Baltic Sea.”
The Baltic nations are investigating whether the cutting of two fiber-optic telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea was sabotage – but if the Nord Stream pipeline investigation is any reference, we must be prepared to wait indefinitely.
Meanwhile, European officials blame Russia, as one could imagine.
Germany, Poland, and others have said it was likely an act of sabotage.
Reuters reported:
“’Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against NATO and EU countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks’, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain said in a statement.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski:
“If Russia does not stop committing acts of sabotage in Europe, Warsaw will close the rest of its consulates in Poland.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius:
“No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally. We also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage.”
Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans:
“We see increasing activity of especially Russia on our seas, aimed at espionage and possibly even sabotage of our vital infrastructure.”
The Swedish Prosecution Authority launched a preliminary criminal investigation into the breached cables.
Meanwhile, other suspects are also being named in reports.
Swedish authorities are investigating the possible role of a Chinese ship, the Yi Peng 3, which was passing near the damaged cables in the Baltic Sea at the time of their rupture, the Financial Times reported.
Sputnik reported:
“The sabotage of the underwater internet cables coincided with the NATO naval exercise Freezing Winds 24.
The exercise is held in southern Finland and in the Northern Baltic Sea from November 18 to 29.
The cable between Finland and Germany runs along the same route as Nord Stream. The distance between them is several hundred meters.
Shortly before the Nord Stream explosions in the Baltic Sea, NATO also held the exercises of Baltops 2022.”
Read more:
Russia Announces They Have Evidence US and UK Were Behind Nord Stream Pipeline Bombings