Gas pipe damage | China admits that the Newnew Polar Bear ship caused the gas pipeline damage – Estonia: The report is not valid as evidence

China admits that a Chinese-owned cargo ship damaged the Balticconnector gas pipeline running between Finland and Estonia last October, says the Hong Konger South China Morning Post magazine (SCMP).

According to the Chinese authorities, the pipe damage caused by the Newnew Polar Bear was a damage caused by a strong storm.

The newspaper bases its information on an internal investigation by the Chinese authorities, the results of which, according to it, have recently been communicated to the European countries involved in the matter, i.e. apparently Finland and Estonia.

Finland’s Central Criminal Police (krp) did not comment to the newspaper on whether it had received the report from the Chinese authorities.

Foreign minister Elina Valtonen (kok) commented on the matter via text message to HS via his special assistant: “We are constantly cooperating with China and exchanging information, but we will not go into details because the investigation is still ongoing. KRP will comment on the investigation in more detail when there is something to comment on.”

The Ministry of the Interior did not want to comment on the matter, but the ministry instructed to contact the Central Criminal Police. Helsingin Sanomat has not reached the KRP to comment on the matter.

Estonian communications manager of the prosecutor’s office Kairi Küngas on the other hand, according to the SCMP, he said that his department had not seen the Chinese report, and that report could not under any circumstances be used as evidence in the Estonians’ own criminal investigation.

Küngas pointed out that Estonia submitted a request for legal assistance to China so that the Estonians could gather information about the ship and its crew. Reportedly, no response has been received to the request.

KRP’s communications manager Anna Zareff had told the newspaper in his written response that there has been cooperation with the Chinese authorities in the matter and the KRP has submitted a request for legal assistance to the Chinese in the matter.

“It should be noted that the investigations are still ongoing. Final conclusions about what was behind the incident (technical fault – negligence / poor seamanship – intentional act) can only be made when all the necessary investigative measures have been completed, and this will still take time,” Zareff had said.

According to SCMP, both the Estonian and Finnish authorities are still waiting for answers from the Chinese authorities regarding the ship.

According to the newspaper, China’s Ministry of Justice has not yet responded to Finland’s and Estonia’s requests for legal assistance, but according to the newspaper’s understanding, the Ministry of Justice would be willing to do so later.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not responded to SCMP magazine’s inquiries.

Balticconnector damaged on 7-8 on the night between October, when the Newnew Polar Bear was on its way from Kaliningrad to St. Petersburg.

It is a 169-meter long and slightly more than 27-meter wide container ship that transports goods along the northern sea route between China and Russia. At the time of the incident, it was sailing under the Hong Kong flag.

The ship is owned by the private Chinese shipping company Newnew Shipping. The owners of Newnew Shipping were revealed In HS’s report several Chinese businessmen behind chained company holdings.

President Sauli Niinistö discussed in January when he was still in office the president of China Xi Jinping with Balticconnector via video connection. The presidents stated at the time that Finland and China have engaged in a constructive dialogue about the case.

According to the Presidential Office, the discussion was initiated by Finland.

Correction 12.8. 2:59 p.m.: The article previously erroneously stated that Newnew Polar Bear was 69 meters long. The correct length is 169 meters.