Early on Oct. 8, a gas pipeline and a telecoms cable
connecting Finland and Estonia under the Baltic Sea were broken, in what
Finnish investigators say may have been deliberate sabotage.
Last week, the Estonian government said "human
interference" damaged the cable, and was probably also responsible for the
partial impairment that night of another underwater telecoms cable between
Estonia and Sweden.
Reuters reported that two vessels, Hong-Kong-flagged NewNew
Polar Bear and Russia-flagged Sevmorput, were present at all three sites around
the time of the damage, according to data from MarineTraffic, a ship-tracking
and maritime analytics provider.
Location of damaged gas pipe
The incidents have stoked concerns about energy security in
the wider Nordic region, prompted NATO to increase patrols in the Baltic Sea
and Helsinki to contact Moscow and Beijing via diplomatic channels about the
incidents.
Helsinki is investigating the damage to the pipeline and
Tallinn that to the cables.
Last week, Estonian investigators said they were examining
the role of the two vessels, and whether the damage to the telecom cables was
deliberate, or a result of negligence.
"Estonia has been in contact with Chinese authorities
to encourage cooperation concerning the investigation," a foreign ministry
spokesperson said in an email to Reuters on Monday.
The spokesperson said Estonia wanted to encourage "any
cooperation necessary for the investigation," adding Russia was not
contacted "as we have not seen necessity for this".
Earlier on Monday China called for an "objective, fair
and professional" investigation into the gas pipeline damage.
"It is understood that the Chinese vessel was normal in
the relevant waters at the time of the incident, and no abnormalities were
found due to the poor sea conditions at that time," a Chinese foreign
ministry spokesperson told reporters.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday repeated Moscow's
denial of any involvement.
Any threats against Russia were "unacceptable", he
said in response to Latvian President's Edgars Rinkevics call for NATO to shut
the Baltic Sea to shipping if Moscow were found responsible.
Finland, Estonia and Latvia are members of NATO.