Finland believes that the Chinese ship deliberately damaged the Balticconnector gas pipeline

In Finland, it is believed that the damage to the Balticconnector underwater gas pipeline at the beginning of October was not accidental.

The damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline was probably sabotage, Finnish European Affairs Minister Anders Adlerkreutz said, Politico reports.

Adlerkreutz noted that he could not say for sure that this was a deliberate sabotage approved by the Chinese government. But the fact that the ship that damaged the pipeline then returned to China raises questions.

“I am not a sea captain. But I think you will find yourself dragging the anchor hundreds of kilometers behind you, Adlerkreutz said in an interview Thursday in Brussels. – I think everything points to the fact that it was intentional. But, of course, no one has admitted it yet.”

Finland and Estonia are investigating the rupture of the Balticconnector, a 77-kilometer gas pipeline that connects the two NATO member states at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was damaged around 7-8 October along with two telecommunication cables connecting Estonia to Finland and Sweden.

Read also: The Balticconnector gas pipeline damaged a Chinese ship: what is known about it