After two cables were cut in the Baltic Sea and Sweden and Finland announced they were launching an investigation into sabotage, the Danish Defense Forces today said they were tracking the Chinese ship "I Peng 3", AFP reported.
"We are in the area near the Chinese ship," the Danish Defense Ministry told AFP.
The bulk carrier, which is owned by the Chinese company "Ningbo Yipen Shipping" (Ningbo Yipeng Shipping Co), spent yesterday night in the Kattegat Strait, which is located between Denmark and the west coast of Sweden, the specialized website "Marintrafik" reported. (Marinetraffic).
The ship was near the area where the cable connecting Finland to Germany was damaged two days ago, although there is no evidence directly incriminating it, according to the website "Marintrafik".
Four days ago, another telecommunications cable connecting Sweden to Lithuania was also damaged.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has already stated that the cause of the damage was certainly sabotage. "No one believes that these cables were cut by accident," he said.
In October 2023 an underwater gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was also damaged. The investigation then established that the damage was caused by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship, AFP recalls.
These incidents are also reminiscent of the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. from September 2022, which has so far remained undisclosed. A few months ago, the American edition "Wall Street Journal" linked the sabotage to a former chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian army, an accusation that Kiev described as "absolute nonsense".
According to another specialized site - "Vessel finder" (VesselFinder) - on November 15, the Chinese vessel "I Peng 3" has left the Russian port of Ust-Luga, which is located west of St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, Finnish police announced that they have opened an investigation into the disruption of the undersea fiber optic cable between Finland and Germany on suspicion of property damage and aggravated telecommunications violations.
Swedish Civil Defense Minister Karl-Oscar Bolin told Reuters yesterday that the country's armed forces and coast guard had detected ship movements that corresponded to the disruption of two telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea.