Chinese ship suspected of sabotaging data cables in Baltic Sea for Russia: Report

European nations are investigating a Chinese cargo ship for underwater sabotage in the Baltic Sea, according to a report.

Earlier this month, two undersea fibre-optic data cables were cut in the Baltic Sea . The first cable was damaged between Sweden and Lithuania and the second cable was damaged between Germany and Finland. Shortly after the damage was discovered, Sweden took the lead in investigations and European nations —all members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato)— began pursuing a Chinese cargo ship in the region.

The Chinese ship, Yi Peng 3, is currently anchored in the international waters off the coast of Denmark. For days, it was pursued by Danish Navy and is currently surrounded by naval ships from Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.

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The Wall Street Journal has reported that Yi Peng 3 is being investigated for deliberately dragging its anchor for more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) to cut two undersea cables at the behest of Russia.

Separately, Reuters has reported that Sweden is negotiating the return of the ship to Swedish waters for the purpose of the investigation.

Russia suspected to be behind sabotage: Report

Investigators suspect that the Chinese captain of Yi Peng 3 could have been recruited by Russian intelligence agencies to sabotage undersea cables, according to Wall Street Journal.

The Chinese ship, Yi Peng 3, departed the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on November 15 and transited off the European nations’ coasts in the following days.

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The suspected sabotage happened on November 17-18 — first a cable between Sweden and Lithuania was damaged and then the cable between Germany and Finland.

Investigators have concluded that the Chinese dropped anchor and continued to drag it along the seabed in Swedish waters on November 17 at around 9 pm local time, according to Journal.

The dragging of the cable cut the two cables in the following hours, according to investigators.

A senior investigator said that is “extremely unlikely” that the damage to the cables from the ship was not deliberate.

“It’s extremely unlikely that the captain would not have noticed that his ship dropped and dragged its anchor, losing speed for hours and cutting cables on the way,” said a senior European investigator to the newspaper.

In a sign the ship was indeed engaged in wrongdoing, the ship switched off its transponder, which emits the ship’s location publicly, during the time of suspected sabotage and went ‘dark’, according to the satellite and other data reviewed by investigators, as per the Journal.

Not the first such case

This is not the first time that such an incident has been reported in Europe.

Last year, another Chinese-registered ship, 'Newnew Polar Bear', is believed to have cut a gas pipeline and a communication undersea cable between Finland and Estonia with its anchor, according to the Journal.

Such acts of sabotage are seen as being part of a broader ‘shadow war’ being waged against Europe by Russia where it is systematically attacking European critical infrastructure, such as energy infrastructure, cyber networks, communication networks and systems, etc.

Following the discovery of damage to cables, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said the default assumption is that it is an act of sabotage.

“No one believes that the cables were accidentally damaged,” said Pistorius.

Earlier this week, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called upon Baltic and Nordic countries to conduct regular naval policing to prevent such acts.

“I will convince our partners of the need to immediately create an analogous formula when it comes to the control and security of the Baltic waters, to ’navy policing’, a joint undertaking of the countries that lie on the Baltic Sea and that have the same sense of threat when it comes to Russia,” said Tusk.