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Finnish foreign minister does not view Baltic cable ruptures as accident

At the same time, Elina Valtonen emphasized that the Finnish government continues its investigation

LONDON, February 5. /TASS/. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said the latest ruptures of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea can hardly be viewed as accidental.

In her words, it was "extremely unlikely" that all four incidents were accidental.

At the same time, she emphasized that the Finnish government continues its investigation.

"In all of these cases we’re still in the phase of investigation, certainly those ones where Finland is somewhat directly involved. So we can’t put out any judgments before that," she told The Times during a visit to London.

The ruptures of underwater cables in the Baltic Sea were reported in November and December 2024. Two underwater cables were damaged under the Baltic Sea on November 17 and 18. One connected Germany and Finland, and the other Sweden and Lithuania. According to the MarineTraffic ship tracking service, the China-flagged ship Yi Peng 3 was close to the spot where the cable between Sweden and Lithuania was severed. The same ship later moved across the area where the C-Lion1 cable between Germany and Finland was damaged.

On December 25, 2024, the EstLink 2 power cable, connecting Finland’s energy grid with Estonia through the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, was suddenly damaged. Finland’s Fingrid company reported that its repairs would take several months. The country‘s police and border guards have detained the Cook Islands-flagged oil tanker Eagle S on suspicion of being involved in the accident. Later, the Postimees newspaper reported damage to three cables between the two countries, citing several Estonian companies.