the latest incident in the Baltic Sea, “alarm signal” for Berlin

The breakdown of a submarine cable between Finland and Estonia on Wednesday, behind which Europeans suspect an act of sabotage by the “Russian ghost fleet”is a “alarm signal” for Berlin, which is pushing for new EU sanctions.

“At an almost monthly rate, ships are currently damaging important submarine cables in the Baltic Sea. Ship crews leave anchors in the water, drag them for miles along the seabed for no apparent reason, then lose them on the way up.accuses Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in a statement to the Funke Mediengruppe media group on Saturday.

“It is more than difficult to believe in coincidences anymore. This is an urgent wake-up call for all of us.”adds the head of German diplomacy, who calls for new “European sanctions against the Russian ghost fleet”.

This term refers to ships carrying embargoed Russian crude oil and petroleum products.

Besides that it constitutes “a major threat to our environment and our security”this fleet is used by Moscow “to finance its war of aggression in Ukraine”underlines the minister.

On Christmas Day, the EstLink 2 direct current link between Finland and Estonia disconnected from the grid. The suspect vessel, an oil tanker leaving from a Russian port, was boarded by Finland.

This incident comes a little more than a month after the rupture of two telecommunications cables in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.

The European Union on Thursday condemned “any deliberate destruction of Europe’s essential infrastructure” and announced that he was preparing new sanctions against Russian ships.

EU countries agreed earlier this month to blacklist around 50 additional tankers from the fleet.

Discussions are also taking place between NATO partners in order to “better protect the Baltic Sea against hybrid threats”to souligné Annalena Baerbock.