‘China caught red-handed sabotaging in Europe at the behest of Russia’
Investigators are convinced that the captain of the Chinese freighter Yi Peng 3 deliberately dropped the anchor and dragged it more than 160 kilometres across the European seabed in an attempt to damage undersea communication cables.
The breach of the C-Lion1 undersea communication cable between Finland and Germany was identified early last week by the Finnish government-owned company Cinia. The Swedish government subsequently confirmed that the data cable BCS East-West Interlink between Sweden and Lithuania was also found to be faulty.
And everything points in the direction of China and Russia. The Chinese merchant ship Yi Peng 3 was found to be near where the cables malfunctioned, analyses of the ship's sailing route showed. It is therefore suspected that the captain carried out the sabotage at Moscow's behest. But Russia, as always, denies all involvement.
The sailors and captain could not yet be questioned. German and Swedish authorities are negotiating with the ship's owner to be able to question those on board.
Danish naval vessels eventually forced the vessel, 225 metres long and 32 metres wide, to anchor in the Kattegat, the strait between Denmark and Sweden, and since then the Yi Peng 3 has been surrounded in international waters. So writes The Telegraph.
(FVDV for Tagtik/Source: The Telegraph - The Wall Street Journal - Euronews/Illustration picture: Ian Taylor for Unsplash)