天然氣、電信纜線疑遭人為破壞 Balticconnector and others damaged roughly at the same time

【雙魚之論】英文拷到 G / D 找中文翻譯
The Northeast Passage in the Arctic Ocean is typically navigable only between June and October each year. In other words, the potential disruption to the Balticconnector, a natural gas pipelines between Estonia and Finland, another pipeline between Sweden and Estonia, and the cable between Sweden and Finland, in early October is being tested by NewNew Polar Bear and Sevmorput, considering various scenarios, including the disruption of energy supply to Finland during the winter and the subsequent return journey.

The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict has seen repeated violations of international humanitarian law, seemingly foreshadowing a situation with widespread implications for the entire population.

北極海的東北航線通常只在每年的六月至十月之間通行，換言之，對10月上旬天然氣管線與電纜線同步被破壞一事，NewNew Polar Bear與Sevmorput是在測試可能的時間點，包括對於芬蘭冬季的能源需求的破壞，與之後的回程。

烏俄戰爭已經不斷出現違反國際人道的例子，似乎預示著一種全民都會受影響的狀況。

北歐天然氣管線、電信纜線莫名受損 中俄兩船隻案發時行蹤可疑    自由 20231021

連接芬蘭和愛沙尼亞的一條天然氣管線和電信纜線於 8 日毀損，儘管是否為人為蓄意破壞還無從得知，但芬蘭國家調查局 (NBI) 20 日表示，對這條「波羅的海連接管」（Balticconnector）的調查目前集中在一艘中國名為「NewNew Polar Bear」的貨櫃船上。

據《路透社》（Reuters）報導，作為被懷疑是執行毀損行為的船隻之一，懸掛香港國旗的 NewNew Polar Bear 行動恰好與管線和纜線破損的時間和地點對上，另一艘被懷疑的則是俄羅斯籍核動力貨船「Sevmorput」號。

芬蘭調查人員稱這可能是蓄意破壞，但他們尚未得出這是意外還是故意行為的結論。在這則聲明後，愛沙尼亞調查人員也表示，他們正在 NewNew Polar Bear 號和 Sevmorput 號。

瑞典 10 日表示，連接斯德哥爾摩和愛沙尼亞首都塔林（Tallinn）的第 3 條管線也幾近在同一時間受損。

據路透獲得的船隻追蹤數據，在損壞發生的時間中，只有這兩艘船出現在所有 3 個事故現場。

芬蘭國家調查局表示，在損壞管線周遭海底發現了一個重物，正在調查這是否與該事件有關。

刑偵警司里洛伊（Risto Lohi）在聲明中表示：「調查已證實損壞是由外部造成，根據目前的了解，沒有理由相信一場爆炸造成毀壞」

芬蘭國家調查局表示，近期於周圍海床深處形成的「巨大土塊」據信含有一個極其重的物體，正受到重點調查。

芬蘭外交部在聲明中表示，已聯繫中國尋求協助，以與 NewNew Polar Bear 取得聯繫。而對於俄羅斯，芬蘭同樣聯繫了俄外交部，「說明了事情的嚴重性」，並表示已啟動調查。

據路透社，NewNew Polar Bear 的船東對此不願置評。

 

芬蘭-愛沙尼亞海底管道遭破壞 中國船嫌疑大    大紀元 20231020

芬蘭調查人員週二（10月17日）表示，他們正在深入調查10月8日波羅的海管道受損時出現在該地區的船隻，其中包括中國船「NewNew Polar Bear」號。 新唐人電視台報道，「新新北極熊」號（NewNew Polar Bear）是途經北極北海航線往返於歐洲和中國之間的一艘集裝箱船，造於2005年，目前懸掛香港旗航行。16日，它離開波羅的海，進入北海，沿著挪威海岸向北行駛。當天，一艘挪威海軍艦艇對這艘中國集裝箱船進行了跟蹤。

海洋交通數據顯示，挪威海岸警衛隊巡邏船KV Sortland從16日格林尼治標準時間（GMT）4時開始在挪威南端跟蹤「新新北極熊」號，一直到GMT19時15分左右到達卑爾根西北約70公里（43英里）處。

KV Sortland在1海里（約1.8公里）外跟隨「新新北極熊」號，持續了約15小時。航行的區域與挪威大部份天然氣出口管道以及一些主要石油和天然氣平台所在的區域幾乎一致。

8日，位於芬蘭灣水下60米的天然氣管道和Telecom Elisa運營的電信電纜、位於愛沙尼亞經濟區水下70米深處同時遭到破壞。

愛沙尼亞外交部部長、國防部部長和氣候部部長已確認，愛沙尼亞與芬蘭之間天然氣管道受損是人為造成的，損壞部位位於芬蘭經濟區，芬蘭已對此事件啟動刑事調查。

芬蘭總統尼尼斯托（Sauli Niinisto）10日表示，天然氣管道和電信電纜受損很可能是「外部」因素造成的，但他沒有詳細說明。

尼尼斯托指出，受損原因尚不清楚，芬蘭和愛沙尼亞正在進行調查。他已與北約秘書長斯托爾滕貝格進行了交談，北約已準備好協助調查。

此前的報道主要關注俄羅斯可能對連接北約成員國芬蘭和愛沙尼亞的波羅的海天然氣管道進行破壞，因為俄羅斯油輪SGV Float當時就在案發現場附近。俄羅斯總統普京稱這一指控「完全是無稽之談」。

後來，據愛沙尼亞國家廣播公司ERR報道，集裝箱船「新新北極熊」號在關鍵時刻距離受損管道更近。

據報道，愛沙尼亞當局遲遲沒有指明具體的懷疑者，因為這些訊息「在政治和外交上非常敏感，他們希望獲得「絕對確定」的訊息。

奧斯陸表示，正密切關注波羅的海管道受損事件的調查進展。

 

Nato vows to respond if Finland-Estonia gas pipeline damage is deliberate    The Guardian 20231011

Alliance’s chief says if there is proof of attack it will be met with ‘determined’ response, amid speculation about Russian sabotage

Nato has promised a “determined” response if damage to an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia proves deliberate, as investigators said traces of an “external, mechanical force” had been found on the seabed.

Amid widespread media speculation about the likelihood of Russian sabotage, Risto Lohi of the Finnish national bureau of investigation told a press conference in Helsinki on Wednesday: “There is reason to suspect an external force … caused the damage.” The force, he added, “appears to have been mechanical, not an explosion”.

The agency’s chief, Robin Lardot, said marks had been found on the seabed at the site of the damage to the Balticconnector pipeline. Its operators said it would take at least five months to repair the pipeline, meaning it was unlikely to come on stream again until April 2024.

But Lardot said the investigation into aggravated vandalism was in its “very early technical stages” and could take several more days because of poor weather and the large search area. The bureau was working to “find facts and analyse them”, he said.

Finnish authorities announced on Tuesday that a sudden fall in pressure in the pipeline recorded on Sunday had been caused by extensive damage that “appeared to be deliberate”.

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Wednesday that if the damage to the Balticconnector was “proven to be an attack on Nato critical infrastructure … it will be met by a united and determined response from Nato”.

The incident happened just over a year after a series of underwater blasts burst three of the four pipelines that make up Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, a major conduit for Russian fossil gas exports to western Europe, spewing gas into the Baltic Sea.

Finland’s preparedness level was raised on Wednesday after an extraordinary meeting of a high-level ministerial committee on foreign and security policy, but the security of the country’s energy supply – of which gas accounts for just 5% – was rated stable.

Speaking at a Nato meeting in Brussels, Finland’s defence minister, Antti Häkkänen, said Helsinki “values the support offered by its allies” in the transatlantic military partnership, but refused to speculate on the outcome of the investigation.

The Finnish foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, said no decision would be made on what action should be taken until the investigation was completed and “we have all possible information”. Estonia’s defence minister, Hanno Pevkur, said investigators “must be allowed to get on with their work”.

Commander Jüri Saska of the Estonian navy told ERR public radio that Finnish pictures of the damage shared with the Tallinn government showed the Balticconnector’s concrete protective cover had been broken or torn off, and the pipeline itself was out of position and badly damaged on one side.

A Finnish expert, Jukka Savolainen of the 22-member European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), told the Finnish public broadcaster YLE that one possibility was that “a large ship” had dragged its anchor over the pipeline – either intentionally or, in stormy weather, unintentionally.

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Finnish media reported on Wednesday that five large vessels, including a Panama-flagged freighter and four oil tankers, one of them Russian, were near the 48-mile (77km) pipeline, which runs across the seabed of the Gulf of Finland from Inkoo in Finland to Paldiski in Estonia, shortly before the incident.

After Norwegian seismologists said on Tuesday they had recorded a “thud” at about 1.20am on Sunday in the vicinity of the pipeline, the University of Helsinki’s seismology institute said its instruments had also recorded a “weak vibration” at about the same time.

Analysts have said a Russian hydrographic survey vessel, Sibiryakov, was detected in the Gulf of Finland near the pipeline and the Estlink communications cable, which was also severed, on at least three occasions in May, August and September.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, on Wednesday described the incident as “disturbing”, adding that he did “not have any technical information, and do not know if our special services have any such information”.

Commissioned in 2019, the Balticconnector has been the only gas import channel to Finland – apart from liquefied natural gas (LNG) – since Russian imports were halted last May as part of sanctions imposed against Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine.

 

天然氣、電信纜線疑遭人為破壞 芬蘭調查中國船隻    自由 20231022

連接芬蘭和愛沙尼亞的一條天然氣管線「波羅的海連接管」（Balticconnector）日前毀損，儘管是否為人為蓄意破壞還無從得知， 但芬蘭警方表示，目前調查重點指向一艘名為「新新北極熊」（NewNew Polar Bear）的中國貨櫃船。北約組織此前矢言，如這條海底天然氣管道遭到故意破壞，將做出「堅決」反應。

《路透》報導，8日稍早，「波羅的海連接管」和一條電信纜線雙雙毀損，芬蘭調查人員稱這可能是人為破壞，但尚未斷定這是一起意外事故還是蓄意行為。16日，瑞典表示，連接斯德哥爾摩和愛沙尼亞首都塔林的第三條線路與其他兩條線路在大致相同的時間遭到破壞。

芬蘭國家調查局（NBI）在一份聲明中說：「警方在刑事調查中確定，懸掛香港旗幟的『新新北極熊』號船的行蹤與天然氣管道受損的時間和地點相吻合。」

正在調查電信纜線損毀事件的愛沙尼亞調查員隨後說，他們還在檢視兩艘船，一艘是NewNew Polar Bear，另一艘是俄羅斯籍的Sevmorput號貨船。

《法新社》報導，芬蘭刑偵督察長羅希（Risto Lohi）說，將與中國當局合作，以確認這艘船的作用。

警方也證實損壞是由外部機械力量造成，並已在受損管線附近發現「重物」，將試著打撈並調查是否與天然氣管線受損有關。

北約秘書長史托騰柏格（Jens Stoltenberg）18日曾表示，如果「波羅的海連接管」的破壞，「被證明是對北約關鍵基礎設施的攻擊…北約將做出團結而堅定的回應」。

營運商上週說，至少要花5個月時間才能修復天然氣管線，這將讓芬蘭今年冬天必須完全仰賴液化天然氣進口。天然氣約占芬蘭能源消耗量的5%，主要用於工業和汽電共生。