(ANSA-AFP) - HELSINKI, 25 DIC - An undersea power cable
linking Finland and Estonia broke down Wednesday, Finland's
prime minister said, the latest in a series of incidents
involving telecom cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Arto Pahkin, the head of operations of the Finnish electricity
grid, told public broadcaster Yle that "the possibility of
sabotage cannot be ruled out". Finland's Prime Minister Petteri
Orpo said the power outage "does not affect electricity supplies
for Finns". "The authorities remain vigilant even during
Christmas and are investigating the situation," he added on X.
Operator Fingrid said current on the EstLink 2 cable sending
electricity to Estonia was cut at 12:26 pm local time (1026
GMT). Last month two telecoms cables in the Baltic linking
neighbouring Sweden and Denmark were also cut. Suspicions
rapidly fell on the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3, which according to
ship tracking sites had sailed over the cables around the time
they were cut. Sweden said Monday that China had denied a
request for prosecutors to conduct an investigation on the
vessel and that it had left the area. European officials said
they suspect several of the incidents are sabotage linked to
Russia's invasion of Ukraine, with the Kremlin dismissing this
as "absurd" and "laughable". Early on November 17, the Arelion
cable running from the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania
was damaged. The next day, the C-Lion 1 submarine cable
connecting Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was cut south
of Sweden's Oland island. Tensions have mounted around the
Baltic since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In
September 2022, a series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord
Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe, the cause
of which has yet to be determined. In October 2023, an undersea
gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it
was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship. nzg/fg/phz
/ (ANSA-AFP).
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