Fredrik Larsson / SVT
Chinese freighter Yi Peng 3 anchored in the Kattegat Strait between Sweden and Denmark
A huge Chinese cargo ship suspected of intentionally severing a pair of fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea has left the area amid an ongoing international investigation. And “no one believes that these cables were cut by accident.”
In November, tension in the Baltic Sea grew following the deployment of fiber optic submarines supporting telecommunications between Germany, Sweden, Finland and Lithuania.
Cables like these, which are the veins that connect the global Internet, have been at the center of suspicious maritime activities in recent years, which resulted in an increase in service and communications interruptions, recalls .
For months, the huge Chinese freighter Yi Peng 3 remained motionless in the Kattegat Strait, between Sweden and Denmarkfor no apparent reason.
Strange coincidence or sabotage? There is no answer so far, and the mystery surrounding the incident has just become more complicated.
In recent weeks, researchers from several countries have approached the freighter, looking for clues as to what could have caused the cables to be cut. This Saturday, however, the Chinese ship began heading north, and left the strait — a movement that was caught by .
Speaking to , the Swedish authorities, who were leading the investigation, accused the Chinese authorities of denying their request latest for let the prosecutors onto the shipdespite having previously agreed to cooperate fully.
Chinese authorities, however, now say the ship left to “secure the physical and mental well-being of the crew“.
Ship dragged anchors for more than 100 miles
On November 17th, an important internet connection connecting Finland and Germany was suddenly out of service. A day later, another nearby connection, which connected Sweden to Lithuania, was also interrupted.
Swedish investigators who analyzed the cause of the service cuts quickly attributed the failures to a pair of cut fiber optic submarine cables.
There are hundreds of these cables on the seabed around the world. Collectively, these cables support the global Internet and are responsible for supporting almost 10 billion euros in financial transactions at a global level.
It is not uncommon for these cables, some of which are nearly 40 years old, to suffer damage — which can happen due to wear of materials, natural disastersaccidental falls from ship anchors or even .
But in this particular case, investigators immediately suspected that it was not an accident. Authorities in Sweden and Denmark have focused their attention on the Yi Peng 3, a huge Chinese ship carrying Russian fertilizers.
The ship, 225 meters long and operated by a company called Ningbo Yipeng Shippingwould have left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on 15 November. He then ran almost the entire length of the Baltic Sea at the exact time both cables were cut.
It was then ordered the ship to stop to allow a team of researchers from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Germany to come on board.
An initial investigation by Swedish officials, first reported by , claims that the ship’s transponder turned off around the same time the internet outages occurred. The ship will then have dragged its anchor for 100 miles under the sea.
During that time, the ship continued to travel — despite its anchor having slowed down your speed considerablywhich makes its “accidental” launch unlikely.
“No one believes these cables were cut by accident“, said the German Defense Minister, Boris Pistoriusto the .
Instead, investigators suspect that the ship’s captain may have received instructions from Russian intelligence officers. A spokesman for the Kremlin press office refuted this theory, considering such accusations “absurd and baseless”.
Mysterious cable damage is on the rise
The cable cutting comes amid an increase in suspicious activity near undersea cables in recent years.
In the spring, Taiwanese authorities accused China of intentionally cutting two submarine cables connecting the Mastu Islands to the rest of the world. China has denied these allegations.
Shortly afterwards, Estonian prosecutors found a container registered in Hong Kong, called “Newnew Polar Bear“, damaged a pair of submarine cables connecting Estonia to Finland. An investigation found a anchor at the bottom of the seawhich authorities say belonged to the Chinese ship.
Intentional or not, these damages have sparked renewed interest from countries around the world in reinforce cable security.
Sixteen countries, including the US, Australia, Canada, Finland, France and Japan, issued a joint United Nations statement earlier this year calling for a “shared global approach” to improving the reliability, interoperability and repairability of submarine cables.
Just days after the most recent cable cuts, Denmark added its name to that statement.
These international efforts can help prevent future damage, but Yi Peng 3’s abrupt departure from the Baltic Sea means that maybe we will never know whether or not this most recent case of severed communications cables was intentional.
