Police are investigating after a major power interconnector unexpectedly went out on Christmas Day, with authorities saying they have not ruled out sabotage.
Speculation is rife about two cargo ships that passed through the Estlink-2 power interconnection line just before it was shut down over the Christmas lunchtime period. The undersea power cable connecting Russia to neighboring Estonia and Finland's power grids can carry 650MW of electricity, and was being exported at full capacity from Finland at the time of the outage.
However, there was no power outage in either country as there was surplus electricity at the time of the outage.
Finnish authorities have not said whether the cause of the transmission disruption has been definitively confirmed, but the cable is still not working more than a day later. Prime Minister Petteri Orupo said on Wednesday that repairs would begin “as soon as the fault is identified.”
The National Police is investigating along with the Border Patrol. Finnish police are said to be working on the hypothesis of intentional damage, and a press conference is scheduled for this afternoon on the findings so far.
Finnish Quoted by broadcaster Ale National power grid chief Arto Parkin told the network that two foreign ships were passing through the cable at the time of the outage and that “the possibility of terrorism or sabotage cannot be ruled out.”
Although sabotage is clearly suspected, it is also possible that the outage was caused by a failure. For example, the 10-year-old Estlink 2 cable was out of service from January to August this year due to a failure in a “difficult area.” Estlink-1 also failed.
Nevertheless, two of the oil tankers are in the spotlight. Eagle S and a Hong Kong-registered container ship. Shin Shintian 2. Eel focused on the Eagle S in particular, claiming that it passed over the cable at the exact moment the power outage was reported, and that open source ocean tracking shows the ship suddenly slowed down at this point. He pointed out that there was.
What these reports seem to suggest is the following. Eagle S It is possible that the anchor was intentionally dropped to dredge the ocean floor, cutting the cables it passed through. The tactic is said to have been used in recent known sabotage attempts against European underwater infrastructure by Russian-linked vessels.
The designation of may also be relevant. eagle S by Lloyd's of London As part of Russia's “Dark Fleet” of unidentified vessels that engaged in “deceptive shipping practices” to circumvent Western sanctions regimes on Russian oil exports. The ship was captured and escorted by a Finnish Coast Guard vessel. [pictured, top] Christmas day after the power outage.
Undersea sabotage is becoming a more familiar occurrence for Europe, with governments taking action against the West for meddling in Russia's apparently private affairs in Ukraine, and threatening the European Union with no declaration of war. It has been accused of waging a “hybrid” war. In November, a Chinese ship Yipen 3 He was accused of dragging an anchor in Swedish territorial waters in the Black Sea and cutting two communication cables.
A joint statement by Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Spain and the UK said of the cable cutting at the time: “Russia's systematic attacks on Europe's security architecture are unprecedented in their variety and scale and are serious. It creates a security risk.” Sweden said attempts to investigate the ship were thwarted by Chinese authorities. Yipen 3 In the end, it left the area without being picked on by Western officials.
