Original WSJ article is behind a paywall.
A Chinese commercial ship is suspected of deliberately dragging its anchor to cut undersea cables that connect countries over the internet, The Wall Street Journal reports.
International investigators reportedly believe the crew aboard Yi Peng 3, a bulk carrier full of Russian fertilizer, dragged its anchor for more than 100 miles across the Baltic seabed, damaging the cables that run across it. Two different internet links — one between Sweden’s Gotland Island and Lithuania, and another between Finland and Germany — stopped working earlier this month, prompting the investigation by authorities from all four countries and other nations.
[…]
It’s not the first time European officials have suspected Russia of undersea infrastructure sabotage since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But officials have been hesitant to accuse the Kremlin outright of interference, the Journal reports, in part for fear of further escalating tensions between Russia and Europe.
It’s a 4d chess move :)
EU: “We will restrict innocent passage and freedom of navigation in the Baltic Sea.”
China: “Gotcha! We will restrict innocent passage and freedom of navigation in the Taiwan Strait.”