‘I would think that you would notice that you’re dragging an anchor behind you for hundreds of kilometers,’ says minister.

BRUSSELS — As the investigation into damage to Baltic Sea critical infrastructure continues, Finland’s Minister of European Affairs Anders Adlercreutz said it’s hard to believe sabotage to the undersea gas pipeline was accidental — or that it happened without Beijing’s knowledge.

“I’m not the sea captain. But I would think that you would notice that you’re dragging an anchor behind you for hundreds of kilometers,” Adlercreutz said in an interview Thursday in Brussels. “I think everything indicates that it was intentional. But of course, so far, nobody has admitted to it.”

  • AutoTL;DRBEnglish
    1•7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    BRUSSELS — As the investigation into damage to Baltic Sea critical infrastructure continues, Finland’s Minister of European Affairs Anders Adlercreutz said it’s hard to believe sabotage to the undersea gas pipeline was accidental — or that it happened without Beijing’s knowledge.

    Finland and Estonia have been investigating the rupture of the Balticconnector, a 77-kilometer-long gas pipeline that connects the two NATO members beneath the Baltic Sea.

    An investigation by Finnish authorities identified as the main suspect Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear, which is believed to have dragged its anchor across the Baltic Sea seabed, cutting through the cables and gas lines.

    The Baltic Times reported earlier this week that the two European countries have asked to send representatives to Beijing to investigate the vessel, which is currently en route to a Chinese port.

    Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur expressed similar sentiment in an interview with Swedish public broadcaster SVT last month, saying the captain of the ship surely “understood that there was something wrong” after dragging an anchor for over 180 kilometers.

    Coming more than a year after the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia to Germany were damaged by several explosions, the Balticconnector incident raises more concerns over the safety of undersea critical infrastructure and possible measures to protect them from external sabotage.

    The original article contains 419 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 50%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • @Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      16•7 months ago

      This leaves out very significant details from the story, like this part for instance:
      “The anchor — which weighs 6,000 kilograms — was retrieved a few meters from the site of the damage.”
      Don’t upvote stupid bots!!! And don’t think this is as good as actually reading the article. If you waste time reading this, you might as well take the time to read the actual article, and get the proper context.