Finland – BalticConnector

Finnish police say they have retrieved a large anchor from the seabed near where the BalticConnector gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea was damaged earlier this month, Reuters reports. Police say they are now investigating whether the anchor belonged to a Chinese container ship. The NBI – which is the Finnish police’s national intelligence service – elaborates that it has been determined that the Chinese ship “NewNew Polar Bear” has been missing one of its anchors. However, the secret service has tried unsuccessfully to contact the ship to ask whether it is the anchor that has now been retrieved from the Gulf of Finland.
     On Tuesday, Finnish police also said an unnamed Russian vessel was no longer part of the “main clue of the investigation”.
     The damage to the gas pipeline was discovered on the night of October 8. The police subsequently reported on 20 October that the damage to the BalticConnector and two telecommunications cables was caused by an “external mechanical force” and that it should be investigated whether this was triggered by deliberate sabotage or an accident. /ritzau/