The German and Finnish governments spoke on Monday of “hybrid warfare” and the Russian threat, saying they were “deeply concerned” following the rupture of an underwater telecommunications cable linking their two countries.
“A thorough investigation is underway” after this break, the causes of which have not yet been clarified, of a fiber optic cable in the Baltic Sea, announced the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the two countries, Annalena Baerbock for Germany and Elina Valtonen for Finland, in a joint declaration.
“Our European security is not only threatened by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine but also by hybrid wars waged by malicious actors,” they said.
For the latter, “such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage.”
This 1,172 kilometer submarine cable, called C-Lion1, has linked Helsinki to Rostock, a Baltic Sea port in northeastern Germany, since 2016. Its operator, the Finnish technology group Cinia, announced that a “fault” was detected on Monday, causing all fiber connections to this cable to be cut. “This type of rupture does not occur in these waters without external impact,” added the publicly owned group.
European countries are increasingly using the term “hybrid warfare” to describe actions aimed at harming them carried out by Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Faced with the increase in these attacks, the former president Finnish Sauli Niinistö called for the establishment of an intelligence cooperation service within the European Union, in a report submitted to the Commission at the end of October.
In October 2023, an underwater gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia had to be closed after damage caused by an anchor from a Chinese cargo ship.
Finland has stepped up monitoring of incidents in the Baltic Sea since the outbreak of war between neighboring Russia and Ukraine. Monday’s incident is also reminiscent of the sabotage in September 2022 of the Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, which has not yet been clarified.
In August, the “Wall Street Journal” implicated the former Ukrainian chief of staff, an accusation described as “absolute nonsense” by kyiv.
