According to the latest news about the cable break near Nord Stream by AFP, Stockholm wants a Chinese ship, anchored off the coast of Denmark after two cables in the Baltic Sea were broken, to move to Swedish waters to assist in the investigation, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson informed on the morning of November 26, local time.
Sweden “has been in contact with the ship and with China and has stated that it wants the ship to move towards Swedish waters,” he said.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stressed that asking the Chinese ship to enter Swedish waters was not an "accusation" but to "find out what happened".
According to Bloomberg, Prime Minister Kristersson said that the Swedish government “has not yet received an answer” to this request.
“This is not the first time we have had a cable break for an unknown reason. This is the second such incident in the Baltic Sea in just over a year,” said Mr Kristersson.
Two telecommunications cables were severed on November 17 and 18 in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea. Early in the morning of November 17, the Arelion cable connecting the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania was damaged. The following day, the C-Lion 1 submarine cable connecting Helsinki and the German port of Rostock was severed south of the Swedish island of Oland, about 700 km from Helsinki.
The Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 was near two cables when the incidents occurred. According to ship tracking websites, the Yi Peng 3 passed through the cables around the time the cables were severed, although there is no evidence that the ship was involved in the incidents.
Swedish and Finnish police have launched an investigation and European officials have expressed suspicions of "sabotage" linked to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in the cable break near Nord Stream.
The Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 has been anchored in the Kattegat Strait between Sweden and Denmark, just outside Danish territorial waters, since November 19. The Chinese ship is being closely monitored by ships from Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
The Danish Navy announced on November 20 that it was tracking the ship in international waters. The Swedish Coast Guard has been tracking the ship since November 23.
Tensions have been rising around the Baltic Sea since the Russia-Ukraine conflict erupted in February 2022. In September 2022, a series of underwater explosions ruptured the Nord Stream pipeline that transports Russian gas to Europe. The cause and perpetrator of the Nord Stream explosions are still unknown.
In October 2023, the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after being damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.
