Recently, the Biden administration in the USA made US missiles available to Ukraine, which further strained the relations between Russia and the USA. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the doctrine of responding with nuclear weapons after Ukraine hit 115 kilometers inside the Russian border with these missiles this morning. In addition, this incident from the Russian front is a ‘3rd’ event because the USA and Europe are also involved in the war. Statements were made that it was a World War.
Following these developments, the breaking of the submarine telecommunication cables connecting Finland and Germany and Sweden and Lithuania in the Baltic Sea is considered to be a sabotage by Russia.
TELECOMMUNICATION CONNECTIONS OF 4 COUNTRIES WERE DISCONNECTED
According to the news in the Finnish press, the Finnish company Cinia, which provides telecommunication services and whose shares are majority owned by the state, announced that there was a system failure caused by a break in the C-Lion1 submarine cable between Finland and Germany and that its services were disrupted.
In the statement made by Cinia, it was emphasized that the cause of the malfunction, which was noticed after 04.00 today, remained unclear, and it was stated that a repair ship was prepared to go to the region and repair works were started.
THE LENGTH OF THE LINE IS 1173 KILOMETERS LONG
It was noted in the statement that it is not yet known how long it will take to repair the connection, but it was stated that the repair time for submarine cables is generally 5-15 days.
The cable, which is 1173 kilometers long and extends between Helsinki’s Santahamina island and the German city of Rostock, is the only submarine cable extending directly from Finland to Central Europe.
Finnish National Cyber Security Center (Traficom) Director Samuli Bergström also confirmed in his statement that the cable was broken.
Bergström stated that the causes of the problem are being investigated and that it is normal for malfunctions to occur from time to time, adding: “There may be various reasons for this. These systems are sensitive to weather conditions and damage caused by maritime traffic. The important thing is to detect the problems and take corrective measures.” he said.
Stating that Finland’s international connections were affected by outages, Bergström said, “However, it is useful to remember that data connections leaving Finland are made from several different places. Now one of these links is broken. “This may impose a burden on others, but the effects will probably not be visible to the average citizen,” he said.
A BREAK WAS ALSO DETECTED IN THE COMMUNICATION CABLE BETWEEN SWEDEN AND LITHUANIA
According to the news in the Swedish national press, it was announced that a fault was detected in a communication cable between Lithuania and Sweden, operated by the telecommunications company Telia, at around 10:00 local time yesterday.
Telia’s spokesman in Lithuania, Audrius Stasiulaitis, told CNN that they could confirm that the problem was caused by physical damage to the fiber optic cable.
Stasiulaitis stated that they were in contact with the country’s military and civil authorities regarding the incident.
‘HYBRID WAR POSSIBILITY’ ASSESSMENT FROM FINLAND AND GERMANY
In their joint written statement, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock stated that they were “deeply concerned” about the malfunctions in the C-Lion1 cable.
The statement stated that the events brought up the “hybrid war threat” and said, “Europe’s security is threatened not only by Russia’s war against Ukraine, but also by hybrid war carried out by malicious actors.” statements were included.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also said that the damage to two submarine data cables between Germany and Finland and Sweden and Lithuania in the Baltic Sea should be assumed to be sabotage.
Making a statement about the incident before the European Union (EU) Defense Ministers Meeting in Brussels, Pistorius argued that Europe’s defense policy against Russia brings to mind not only military but also hybrid threats.
Pistoruis pointed out that Russia had a hand in the cable breaking incident in the Baltic Sea and said, “This is a very clear sign that something is going on. No one believes that these cables were broken by accident.” he said.
Stating that he does not believe the narratives that anchors accidentally damaged the cables, Pistoruis said, “Therefore, we need to state that this is a hybrid action, even though we do not know exactly who it came from.” he said.
Defense Minister Pistorius emphasized that it should be assumed that this was sabotage.
THE POSSIBILITY OF THE BREAKING OF THE CABLES BEING AN INTENTIONAL ACTION IS WORRYING
Prof. works in the field of cyber security at Jyvaskyla University in Finland. Dr. Tapio Frantti said in a statement that the cable break was more likely to be the result of a deliberate act rather than an accident.
Frantti evaluated that looking at the reasons for the action, it is possible that Russia might be involved in this, and stated that the situation would be worrying if it turned out that this was done deliberately.
Noting that the consequences of a single cable break are not very serious, Frantti said, “If needed, it comes to mind that this could be an application for a larger-scale action.” he said.
Experts point out that it is thought-provoking that the events in the Baltic Sea come after allegations that the USA allowed Ukraine to use long-range tactical missile systems (ATACMS) on Russian territory.
On the other hand, in the statement made by the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO), it was stated that it was too early to comment on the cause of the cable break.
In the statement, it was pointed out that approximately 200 submarine cables break every year around the world, and that the most common cause is fishing or anchoring of ships.
“C-LION1 HAS NEVER BEEN BREAKED BEFORE”
Cinia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ari-Jussi Knaapila reminded at the press conference that C-Lion1 cables have never been broken before.
Knaapila added that he did not want to speculate on how the cable was damaged, and that the cause would be investigated once the damage was repaired.
Source: AA