Gas pipe damage|Norway is publishing a report this week that deals with Russia’s possible sabotage threat.
of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) interviewed by a Norwegian official says that Norway almost stopped a Chinese ship with a Russian crew suspected of breaking the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia.
The gas pipeline broke in October 2023, and the cause of the damage has been suspected to be the anchor of Newnew Polar Bear, which would have been pulled along the seabed at the gas pipeline.
Finland told Norway about the suspicions, which started shadowing the ship when it was returning towards Russia after continuing westward and approaching an important infrastructure for Norway..
“Just a week or two later, we would have had enough evidence to stop the ship and conduct a search, but by then it was too late,” says the Norwegian source.
Norway is publishing a report this week dealing with Russia’s possible sabotage threat.
NATO, on the other hand, has accused Russia this month of increasingly intensive attempts to sabotage Western countries through electronic interference and various hybrid operations. WSJ also lists similar statements from, for example, Poland and Great Britain.
According to the newspaper, it is often difficult to prove that damages caused by civilian ships, for example, are intentional sabotage by Russia. So far, the threshold to blame Russia directly for the damage has often been high.
Finland’s investigations have been hampered by the fact that the captain and coxswain have not been reached for questioning, although the ship itself was visited at the end of April.
The possibility of an accident has also been investigated in the preliminary investigation.
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