After more than ten months since the incident occurred, the Chinese authorities claimed that the undersea oil pipeline connecting Estonia and Finland in the Baltic Sea was accidentally damaged by a Chinese vessel. However, this explanation has been questioned by Estonian Minister of Defense, Hanno Pevkur.
On October 7th to 8th last year, the undersea natural gas pipeline connecting Estonia and Finland in the Baltic Sea was damaged, along with two telecommunications cables connecting these two NATO member countries. Both countries have been conducting criminal investigations into the incident, trying to identify the culprits behind the destruction of these vital infrastructure.
According to a report by the South China Morning Post on Monday, August 12th, the Chinese authorities admitted that in October 2023, a Chinese ship damaged the undersea pipeline connecting Estonia and Finland, but claimed it was an accidental incident.
In a Chinese report, the Chinese authorities attributed the incident to a severe storm.
Estonian Minister of Defense, Pevkur, stated in an interview with the Estonian National Broadcasting Corporation that he finds it hard to understand how the ship’s captain did not notice the anchor dragging on the seafloor for such a long period of time, but that investigation will have to be completed by the prosecutor’s office.
The pipeline repair work was completed in April of this year, costing 35 million euros (38.3 million US dollars), but Pevkur mentioned that it is unlikely for the Chinese authorities to cover these repair costs.
Pevkur stated in the interview, “Considering the actual circumstances, it is difficult to assume a change in China’s stance on this issue. When they insist it was an accident, they are likely to maintain their position that they have nothing to compensate for.”
He added that China admitting responsibility is not surprising in itself, “as from the beginning, people have believed that it was the anchor that caused the damage to the Baltic Sea connector pipe.”
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Estonian Prime Minister, Kristen Michal, will discuss this Chinese report during a state visit to Finland on Tuesday, August 13th.
Michal said, “The actual task remains repairing the damage, and the question remains, who will bear the costs.”
Since the Chinese report cannot be used as evidence in the criminal investigation, prosecutors in Estonia and Finland continue to urge the Chinese authorities to adhere to the joint investigation procedure led by Helsinki.
The Estonian Prosecutor’s Office stated that in the country’s criminal proceedings, only documents obtained through requests for judicial assistance can be used as evidence. So far, China has not responded to the judicial assistance requests from the Estonian prosecution.
Politico reported on December 1st last year that as investigations into the damage to key Baltic Sea infrastructure continue, Finnish Minister for European Affairs, Anders Adlercreutz, expressed disbelief that the damage to the undersea gas pipeline was accidental or occurred without the knowledge of the Chinese authorities.
“I’m not a ship captain. But I think if you have an anchor trailing behind you for hundreds of kilometers, you would notice,” he said. “I think everything indicates that this was intentional.”
According to the Finnish government’s investigation, the Chinese container ship “New Polar Bear” is the main suspect in this incident. It is believed that the ship dragged the anchor across the Baltic Sea seabed, severing the cables and the natural gas pipeline, and the 6,000-kilogram anchor was salvaged a few meters away from the incident site.
Following the incident, the “New Polar Bear” sailed to St. Petersburg, Russia, before being spotted in the Arkhangelsk region and eventually docking at Tianjin Port in China.
Since then, Finland and Estonia have been in contact with the Chinese authorities seeking their cooperation in the investigation.
The Baltic Times previously reported that these two EU countries had requested to send representatives to investigate the ship docked in a Chinese port.