Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced on Wednesday, the 27th of November, that during his two-day visit to Sweden he will urge the Baltic and Nordic countries to take joint action on the safety of the Baltic Sea waters as Sweden, Germany and Lithuania continue their criminal investigations into damaged undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, reports Reuters and Politico.
Faced with the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, NATO countries are taking joint measures to protect themselves, including joint control of the airspace over the Baltic States under the so-called “air policing”.
“I will persuade our partners of the need to immediately establish an analogous formula for control and security of Baltic waters – “navy policing”, which would be a joint effort of the countries along the coast of the Baltic Sea that feel a similar threat from Russia,” Tusk said.
“If Europe is united, then Russia is a technological, financial and economic dwarf in relation to Europe,”
he added. “But if Europe is divided, Russia poses a threat to each and every European country individually.”
Tusk will attend a meeting of Baltic and Nordic prime ministers on Wednesday and Thursday and will meet Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
They will discuss transatlantic relations, regional security cooperation and a common policy on the war in Ukraine.
The Polish PM’s statement comes after two submarine cables were damaged in less than 24 hours on the 17th and 18th of November – one connecting Finland and Germany and the other connecting Sweden and Lithuania – leading German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius to believe that it was sabotage.
Sweden, Germany and Lithuania last week launched a criminal investigation focusing on the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga on the 15th of November.
The vessel is currently in international waters, but within Denmark’s exclusive economic zone, and is being closely monitored by Danish military vessels, but
Sweden on Tuesday urged the Chinese vessel to return to Swedish waters to assist in the investigation.
“We are not making any accusations, but we want to find out what happened,” Ulf Kristerson said.
Western intelligence officials from several countries have expressed their belief that the Chinese ship caused the two cables to break. But they have differed on whether they were accidents or could have been deliberate.
US Naval Intelligence believes that both incidents were accidental, as one US official indicated, while officials from other countries have indicated that the possibility of sabotage cannot be ruled out.
Kristersson said he hoped that China would respond positively to the request to move the vessel to Swedish waters.
China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday, in response to a question about Sweden’s request, said communication channels with Sweden and other relevant parties were “unobstructed”, adding that China was cooperating with all countries “to maintain the security of international submarine cables and other infrastructure in accordance with international law”.
Also read: Germany on mysteriously severed cables in the Baltic Sea: it’s sabotage
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Publish date : 2024-11-27 03:58:00
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