Tension is rising in the Baltic Sea, the scene of a hybrid war between Russia and the West with an increasing number of accidents. Finland suspects an oil ship from a Russian port of being behind the sabotage. NATO, for its part, announces that it wants to strengthen its presence in a highly strategic area.
Eight sailors were arrested aboard an oil tanker from St. Petersburg, which was seized by Finnish police. Although flying the flag of the Cook Islands, this ship is accused of having cut submarine electrical cables on Christmas Day. This incident is seen as a new act of hybrid warfare attributed to Russia, a threat that deeply worries European leaders.
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“We are seeing different hybrid attacks across Europe, whether sabotage, cyberattacks, dangerous ghost fleets, GPS jamming and cable damage,” explains Kaja Kallas, high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security. Russia, for its part, denies any involvement.
This is not the first time that the Baltic Sea has been the scene of acts of sabotage. At the end of November, two submarine telecom cables were cut in Swedish waters. The main suspect was a Chinese cargo ship, which has since left the area.
For Ulrich Bounat, Russia specialist and associate researcher at Open Diplomacy, the goal of hybrid warfare for Russia is to send a message to Westerners that they should not go too far in supporting Ukraine. “There are between 500 and 550 telecom cables at the bottom of the seas which carry the internet network. And if Russia decides to cut some of them, it could cause chaos,” he stressed on Saturday on 7:30 p.m.
>> Explanations at 7:30 p.m.:
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