The writers are doing a really good job keeping us guessing where WW3 will really kick off this season, the Baltics, the mideast, the south China sea, or some secret fourth place.
In my opinion, Finns did the procedures one should do in this case - boarded, redirected and seized the ship.
And did it quickly, to avoid destruction of evidence.
I hope they have evidence of communication with Russia, but I doubt it. That’s really the only possible evidence that could be found of a vessel dragging their anchor, other than maybe excessive wear of the anchor and related hardware?
EDIT: Well, I was wrong!
According to fresh news, they “only” found a bonus load of communications interception / spy equipment on board, so they were lucky to move fast - some of it might have been discarded if they had waited longer.
However, they also saw and registered the ship dragging its anchor, and caught it without one anchor (which will be no doubt found at the EstLink cable site or soon after it). One just follows the trench an anchor makes in seabed until it ends.
On the basis of what I’ve read so far, they seem to have a very solid case.
Yeah, I saw that! Definitely good news. In our modern world, connectivity is necessary, and unilaterally harming people should be investigated and punished.
Watch Russia do that surprised Pikachu face when it sees its ship’s right of innocent passage out of the Baltic Sea revoked.
Whoever is behind it (All signs point to Russia or China). this is war posturing behaivor, and they’re relying on legal loophole to commit hostile actions against Finland, the EU, and NATO. good on Finland for taking action, regardless of what lawyers say. you dont call the police when armed hooligans are already breaking into your house. You grab your strap.
It’s all Russia. All those chinese boats linked to previous cable destroying made some extra cash when Putin’s boys gave them some brown envelopes under the table before their departure from St Petersburg.
So what should be done to the country that blew up Germany’s oil pipes?
So what should be done to the country that blew up Germany’s oil pipes?
Thank them, whomever they were, for forcing Germany to finally move on from an economic model that was untenable not only for her international partners, but for her own population. Had the Nord Stream pipelines not been so severely damaged, the prospect of cheap industrial inputs may once more have tempted the business establishment to sell out Germany’s partners and public interest for higher private margins; now, even if the upcoming election should yield a government friendlier towards Russia, rebuilding the Nord Stream pipelines –and with them a Trojan horse that had been looming over the European project– would be impracticable.
Seize it and sell it for the damages. If the cook islands have a problem with it, I’m sure they will say so.
Although to be fair its an end of life boat so its not worth a whole lot. Its an 18 year old boat and the lifespan of those is 20-30 years tops.
I wonder what kind on projection of power Russia is planning. Missile cruiser “visiting” Finnish waters.
Was it accompanied by a tugboat I hope? Those ships dont tend to be very well built, leak oil and pollute a lot, and rescue efforts for broken down Russian ships arent cheap. They should pay a deposit for entering Finnish waters with that garbage scow.
Amusingly, the Baltic fleet doesn’t have anything larger than a frigate.
Do you really need anything bigger? Costal missile batteries have a good reach, passive sonar can hear pretty much everything and planes/radar can pinpoint anything on the surface.
It’s fine for patrols, but it wouldn’t accomplish much in an actual conflict. They carry a few Kinzhals and otherwise only a few torpedoes AFAIK. Compared to the German “”“Frigates”“” and RN frigates carrying Harpoons and more, it isn’t a strong match-up. The USN also tends to have at least one amphibious assault ship in the Baltic at any given time.
It’s a big, mostly shallow, very polluted puddle with NATO aircrafts and batteries on every shore. Why would you need a big target in middle of that.
I think the main point is to intimidate us. Like “boo, I’m your big scary neighbor, look at what I can do!”
look at what I can do!
I don’t wanna saaaaay
immediately breaks apart because it is shit
Didn’t they just have a troop carrier and some oil tankers sink?
They were using oil tankers that were designed for river use on the black sea. Three of them snapped in two leaving a huge oil slick which they’re not bothering to clean up.
Then, a cargo ship on route to Syria to evacuate russian bases of equipment had its engine explode near Spain. That ship sank leaving the Spanish to rescue the crew.
The first case is using an inappropriate vessel. The second case appears to be that ships in this shadow fleet are no longer visiting any ports apart from russian ones and so don’t need to have their paperwork in shape. No paperwork means no maintenance. No maintenance means engine go boom.
Tugboat army
Finnish it!
