Germany said on Saturday that the alleged sabotage of an undersea power cable linking Finland and Estonia this week was a “wake-up call” calling for new EU sanctions against Russia’s “shadow fleet.”
The Estlink 2 cable carrying electricity from Finland to Estonia was disconnected from the grid on Wednesday, just over a month after two telecommunications cables were cut in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic.
“Almost every month, ships damage important undersea cables in the Baltic Sea,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement to the funke media group.
“Crews are leaving anchors in the water, dragging them for miles along the seafloor for no apparent reason, and then losing them when lifting them,” he said.
“It is more than difficult to continue believing in coincidences. “This is an urgent wake-up call for all of us.”
Baerbock urged “new European sanctions against the Russian shadow fleet,” ships carrying Russian crude and oil products despite embargoes imposed by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The fleet is “a major threat to our environment and our security” that Russia uses “to finance its war of aggression in Ukraine,” he said.
Finnish authorities said on Thursday they were investigating the Eagle S oil tanker, which left a Russian port, as part of an investigation into “aggravated sabotage” of the Estlink cable.
In response, NATO will strengthen its military presence in the Baltic Sea, the Western alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, said on Friday.
