The two cables running between between Sweden and Estonia were mysteriously damaged on October 8th
Earlier this month, two underwater telecommunication cables that run between Sweden and Estonia were damaged, and as the European countries are continues to investigate the cause of the damage, Estonia has revealed that it has turned to China for assistance, as well as possible involvement.
The Estonian government last week said “human interference” was likely behind the damage and that it is currently looking at the role of two vessels, a Hong-Kong-flagged NewNew Polar Bear and Russia-flagged Sevmorput, that were present at the impacted sites around the time of the damage, according to data from MarineTraffic.
China is reportedly cooperating and a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told reporters: “It is understood that the Chinese vessel was normal in the relevant waters at the time of the incident, and no abnormalities were found due to the poor sea conditions at that time.”
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According to Reuters, an Estonia government spokesperson said that at this point, Russia has not been contacted as there seems to be “no necessity” to do so.
The telecom cables were damaged around the same time that Finland reported a gas pipeline leak, and while the cause of damage to all three is still unknown, Finnish officials believe that it’s possible they are connected and that the involvement of a “state actor” cannot be ruled out.