MOSCOW, October 18. /TASS/. The crew of the nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput (part of Atomflot within the civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom) registered no incidents or suspicious objects near the Balticconnector gas pipeline and the vessel has nothing to do with the pipeline’s damage, Rosatom said in a statement obtained by TASS on Wednesday.
Earlier, the Finnish police reported that it was probing several ships, including Russia’s Sevmorput and China’s Newnew Polarbear in its investigation of the damage to the Finnish-Estonian gas pipeline as they were present in the area at the time of the incident.
"The state corporation Rosatom categorically rejects any conjectures of the complicity of the nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput in the incident with the Balticconnector gas pipeline," the statement reads.
On October 8, 2023, the nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput was in transit from Murmansk to St. Petersburg, moving without any stops or slowing down (the vessel’s average speed during the watch from 12:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. measured 14.5 knots without any considerable alterations) and the anchor was not released while on the move and no technological incidents were registered. Pursuant to a report by the captain of the nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput, and also by the ship owners and the sailor on watch, no suspicious objects or dangerous maneuvers by other vessels were observed during that time interval. The weather was stormy in that area, with the northwestern wind of 18-19 m/s and the sea state of 4 to 6 points.
"We want to emphasize that the area where the Balticconnector pipeline is located is an area of intensive shipping and several ships of various classes were present in those waters at that time," Rosatom said.
Earlier, the operation of the underwater gas pipeline Balticconnector between Finland and Estonia was suspended due to a suspected leak. The Finnish authorities said at a press conference on October 10 that it was not ruled out that the damage to the gas pipeline revealed on October 9 could have been the result of external activity.
The Balticconnector gas pipeline was laid between the Finnish town of Inkoo and Estonia’s Paldiski. It stretches almost over 80 km along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, 55 km overland in Estonia and 21 km in Finland. Its throughput capacity is 2.6 billion cubic meters per annum. Estonia and Finland have stated that the gas pipeline’s suspension will not affect their energy security.