Peskov: No one blamed Russia for the emergency at Balticconnector

During the investigation into the causes of damage to the Balticconnector pipeline, classic Russophobic remarks were made, the inappropriateness of which Moscow said, but there were no accusations against Russia. This was announced by presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

“No accusations were made. Let us look at this soberly. There they immediately started speculating about what would happen if Russia was behind this – yes, these are standard Russophobic reflexes that we have encountered more than once. But in this case, no one blamed Russia. We said from the very beginning that any such eventual reasoning is unlikely to be appropriate until the situation is clarified as a result of the investigation, which is what happened,” he said.

24 October Finnish Central Criminal Police installedthat the movement patterns of the Newnew Polar Bear vessel flying the Hong Kong flag correspond to the time and place of damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline. The police also noted that the version of Russian involvement in the incident at the facility is not considered a priority.

It is specified that at a distance of several meters from the damage site there was discovered anchor, which is believed to have caused the damage. On the morning of October 24, it was raised. The National Bureau of Investigation noted that there are marks on it indicating contact with a gas pipeline.

Previously, the Estonian newspaper Postimees reportedthat at a normal speed of 11 knots, the ship began to slow down as it approached the Balticconnector until the speed dropped to 9.5 knots. After 15 minutes, the container ship increased its speed again to more than 11 knots. In addition, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that the Finnish police were studying the actions of the Russian nuclear-powered container ship Sevmorput, which was passing through the Baltic Sea from Murmansk to St. Petersburg at the time the Balticconnector was damaged. At Rosatom rejected involvement of a Russian vessel in the incident.

On the afternoon of October 8, Finnish Gasgrid reported a drop in pressure in the Balticconnector at night. According to the company, the cause could be a leak. The Finnish government later admitted that this may have been due to a deliberate act. On October 11, the Finnish government’s Foreign and Security Policy Committee reported that the damage could have been caused by “external activities.”