The Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that Russia sent the Mercury corvette into the Kattegat Strait between Denmark and Sweden to monitor the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 - the ship suspected of damaging cables near the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
According to experts interviewed by the newspaper, the Russian warship arrived to monitor the situation of the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3.
The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper confirmed the location of the Russian warship with the help of an expert using radio intelligence.
“Perhaps it was ordered to stay and monitor the situation. Or simply to show strength, which is typical Russian behavior,” the newspaper noted.
On the evening of November 19, the Danish Navy detained the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 on suspicion of damaging two telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea.
The Chinese ship sailed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga. Sweden is also investigating the Chinese ship in the cable break incident.
The bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 was in the area where both cables were damaged at the time of the two incidents.
A representative of the Chinese company Ningbo Yipeng Shipping - which owns the ship - said that "the government has asked the company to cooperate with the investigation".
The Yi Peng 3 left the Russian port on November 11. The ship’s captain is reportedly Russian Alexander Stechentsev. Stechentsev confirmed to The Insider that he was on board when the ship left Ust-Luga, but as a navigator.
Stechentsev said he took the ship out of port on November 15 and immediately returned on another ship, and that he was not among the crew when the cable broke.
Two undersea cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea on November 17 and 18. One connects Germany and Finland (C-Lion1), running alongside the Nord Stream pipeline; the other connects Sweden and Lithuania.
Regarding this cable break, Russia said it must conduct a thorough investigation.
"Russia, whose Nord Stream pipeline was targeted by sabotage, cares about the security of its vital undersea infrastructure like no other country," TASS quoted the Russian Embassy in Denmark as saying in a statement on November 23.
"It is important to ensure a thorough investigation and clarify why the Baltic Sea submarine cables are currently not working. Speculation on this issue will not facilitate efforts to uncover the truth," the Russian Embassy in Denmark stressed.
