Berlin, Oct 23, (dpa/GNA) – Moscow has denied any involvement in the damage to the gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, between Finland and Estonia.
“Russia has nothing to do with this incident,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, according to the Interfax news agency.
Peskov also rebutted comments made by Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, after Rinkevics called for the Baltic Sea to be closed to Russian ships if Moscow were proven to be responsible for the damage to the gas pipeline. Peskov stated that such threats, regardless of their source, are unacceptable to Russia.
On October 10, the Finnish government said the gas pipeline had been damaged, presumably due to external factors. The pipeline runs between Inkoo in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia. An undersea data cable between Sweden and Estonia, was also damaged at the same location in the sea.
Finland and Estonia are conducting a joint investigation, but are refraining from making speculation about the incident’s details.
However, the incident and the suspicion of Moscow’s involvement have raised concerns within NATO. Finnish investigators revealed last Friday that at the time of the damage, the Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear, flying the flag of Hong Kong, was in the region.
Approximately one year earlier, in September 2022, three out of four lines of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea pipelines were damaged by explosions. The party responsible for these incidents remains unidentified.
GNA