A Chinese ship, now lying still in the Kattegat, has been closely followed by ships from the Danish Navy since Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, the diving ship "Søløven" and a patrol ship respectively positioned themselves close to the Chinese ship.
The ship named "Yi Peng 3" set sail five days ago from the port at the Russian city of Ust-Luga and has since moved out of the Baltic Sea. On its way, the ships have followed a route that lies close to two data cables, which were subsequently found to be damaged.
Germany's Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, has described the damage to the power cables as sabotage, and this may be the explanation for the Defense's apparent interest in the Chinese ship. However, this cannot be immediately confirmed.
- The Defense has no comments regarding the Chinese vessel. In general, it can be said that the defense routinely follows vessels sailing through Danish waters, says press advisor Henrik Hall Mortensen from the Defense to Ritzau.
Sweden investigates possible sabotage
The Swedish Minister for Civil Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, told the Swedish news agency TT on Tuesday that the Swedish authorities are investigating the cable break with suspicion of sabotage. Already on Tuesday afternoon, Swedish vessels were sent to the Baltic Sea to investigate the torn cables.
- We support with underwater capabilities. We need to look at the area of the damaged cables to find out what happened, says Jimmie Adamsson, a press officer at the Swedish Navy, to the Swedish Aftonbladet.
The two cables that have been damaged are a data connection between Gotland and Lithuania and a more than 1,000 kilometer long cable connecting Helsinki and Rostock.
/ritzau/
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