In the great cold of the Baltic Sea, one of the many fronts of the conflict between the West and Russia is worsening. A serious accident involved an electrical conduit and four telecommunications cables in the waters surrounding Finland. From the first moment the Helsinki authorities thought it was sabotage, yet another in just a few months. Suspicions increased dramatically when, a few hours later, the Coast Guard boarded and escorted to the mainland a vessel flying the flag of the Cook Islands: one of the many that make up the so-called ‘shadow fleet’ of Vladimir Putina network of oil tankers with obscure properties thanks to which Moscow has long circumvented sanctions on crude oil exports.
The first alarm went off in the late morning of Christmas Day, when the Estlink 2 electricity cable that brings energy from Finland to Estonia was severed. Less than 24 hours later, authorities detected damage to four more cables, this time telecommunications. Three connect Finland to Estonia, the fourth the Scandinavian country to Germany. The accident had no consequences for the population, with Finland immediately committing to bringing energy to Tallinn from other sources. Initial investigations did not clarify whether the five cables were damaged by the same hand but on Wednesday evening the Finnish Coast Guard blocked the oil tanker Eagle S. The vessel, now stopped near the Porkkalaniemi peninsula, had no anchors and the investigators hypothesize that this was precisely the weapon used for the sabotage. The hypothesis that the incident was an attack on Europe’s critical infrastructures has become almost a certainty in the space of a matter of hours.
“We will react decisively to any interference,” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo warned at an urgently called press conference. Shortly before, in a joint statement, the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Kaja Kallas they underlined their “firm condemnation” of any attack on European infrastructure, defining the Russian shadow fleet as “a threat” and saying they were ready for new sanctions. The EU’s intervention was followed by that of the Atlantic Alliance. In a telephone conversation with the Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michalthe secretary general of NATO Mark Rutte he said he was ready “to provide further support” in the Baltic Sea against any sabotage. The dossier has long been considered a priority by European chancelleries.
Only last month, two telecommunications cables connecting Denmark and Sweden were severed and suspicion fell on the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3. Last Monday, Beijing rejected Swedish prosecutors’ request for an investigation, saying the vessel left the area. Last December 16, the EU gave the green light to the fifteenth package of sanctions, which includes 79 ships from Moscow’s shadow fleet. Fleet which, according to experts, can however count on 400 boats. Everything revolves once again around energy, Moscow’s priority target not only in Ukrainian territory. With an appendix that is destined to aggravate the picture. The contract providing for the transit of energy supplied by Gazprom through Ukraine will expire on 31 December. There are three EU countries most affected: Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. It is no coincidence that the last two are now the Kremlin’s bridgehead in the heart of Europe.