Admin I Tuesday, November 19, 2024
BRUSSELS – Damage to communication cables between new NATO members Finland and Sweden and their alliance partners Germany and Lithuania was likely sabotage, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday, just he deemed prospects of any negotiation over Ukraine by Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
“No one believes that these cables were cut by mistake,” Pistorius said in Brussels at an EU defence ministers meeting to discuss the different threats facing the European Union.
The damage to the communication cables was reported in the Baltic Sea on Monday by the Finnish state-owned company Cinia. Cinia announced that a defect had been detected in the C-Lion1 submarine data cable between Finland and Germany, which had interrupted communication links via the cable.
The Finnish Foreign Ministry and the German Foreign Office both said they are “deeply concerned.”
Previous incidents and high tensions between the NATO allies and Russia in the Baltic Sea region raised immediate speculation about the possibility of sabotage. C-Lion1 runs for 1,173 kilometres from the Finnish capital Helsinki to the German Baltic Sea port city of Rostock, partly following the same route as the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that were destroyed two years ago.
The cable was put into operation in early 2016 and is the only undersea data cable that runs directly from Finland to Central Europe. Cinia officials said they believe the cable broke at the bottom of the Baltic Sea and was severed by an external force, such as an anchor or a bottom trawl.
At a press conference held by the company, it was stated that the incident occurred in Swedish waters outside the busiest shipping areas. It is not yet clear how long it will take to fix the problem on C-Lion1.
On Russia, Pistorius said that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week is further evidence that the Russian leader is uninterested in negotiations with Ukraine.
Pistorius on Tuesday defended Scholz’s decision to speak with Putin in an hour-long phone call, which has attracted criticism from Ukraine and some European allies.
But Pistorius also said the call only offered further evidence that Putin has little interest in engaging in negotiations with the West over Ukraine or other issues.
“I think it was not that effective as all of us would have hoped, because Putin reacted more or less at once in between 48 hours with his serious attacks, severe attacks on Ukraine infrastructure. But still, it is important to talk whenever it is possible to talk,” Pistorius said.
“This phone call gave the proof, gave the evidence that Putin is not willing to negotiate about anything. So everybody in Germany or in other countries in Europe should realize, finally, now, this is not the point for talking about peace,” he said. “Because every one of us wants peace, of course, but Putin does not want it – so any phone call gave proof to that.”
Pistorius made his comments while attending a gathering of defence ministers from EU countries in Brussels.
