Damaged submarine cable: intelligence services assume it was an accident
Several submarine cables were recently damaged in European waters. According to a report, intelligence services have not discovered any evidence of intent.
(Image: Korn Srirawan/Shutterstock.com)
More and more secret services in Europe and the USA are becoming convinced that European undersea cables have been accidentally damaged in recent months. This was reported by the Washington Post, citing anonymous persons familiar with the investigations. So far, they have not uncovered any evidence to suggest that the damage was intentional. At the same time, intercepted communications and intelligence findings would suggest several oversights without the newspaper being able to see them. Inexperienced sailors in conjunction with poorly maintained ships would therefore be responsible.
Contradiction to the thesis of oversight
The cases investigated include damage to submarine cables in the Baltic Sea and off the Finnish coast in November and at Christmas. Claims from Russia that the damage was not caused intentionally were disputed by the German defense minister, among others. Boris Pistorius had stated that nobody would assume that the failure of two data cables was accidental. However, this could now be the case. In the case of the Finnish data cables, too, the conviction that it was not sabotage seems to have prevailed. A ship arrested in connection with this was in extremely poor condition.
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While the doubts about sabotage are only expressed by anonymous persons in the newspaper report, several experts criticize this finding by name. Finnish MEP Pekka Toveri, for example, points out that the damage looks like a "typical hybrid attack". It should be possible to deny such attacks, which is why everything is being done to leave no evidence. He and others also point to anomalies in the sailing behavior of the suspected ships. A maritime expert adds that the lowering of an anchor could not go unnoticed. In at least two cases, however, they were dragged more than 150 kilometers across the seabed.
The report on the intelligence findings comes around a month after the most recent damage to submarine cables in European waters. In addition to an undersea cable transmitting electricity between Finland and Estonia , four internet cables were also damaged off the Finnish coast over the Christmas period, including one that had just been repaired. A ship detained in connection with this is being further investigated in Finland. Intelligence agencies from the USA and around half a dozen European countries are trying to clarify the background, according to the Washington Post. Several of them are no longer assuming sabotage.
(mho)
