The Yi Peng 3, a Chinese ship linked to Russian sabotage of undersea cables in November 2024, was halted in international waters by naval vessels from Denmark, Germany and Sweden. AFP/GETTY IMAGES
NATO naval forces responded quickly in November 2024 to detain a Chinese ship linked to a Russian attack on European infrastructure along NATO’s northern flank. The Yi Peng 3, a Chinese cargo ship, was identified by investigators as having severed undersea communication cables connecting four northern European countries in the Baltic Sea by dragging its anchor for more than 160 kilometers, according to The Wall Street Journal newspaper. The ship had turned off its automatic identification system while its anchor was dragging.
Warships from Denmark, Germany and Sweden detained the Yi Peng 3 in the Kattegat Strait, which connects the Baltic and the North seas and were negotiating with the ship’s owners to board it and interview the crew as of November 27, 2024. Satellite footage, photos of the ship’s damaged hull, and evidence of the anchor dragging spurred the NATO allies into action.
The Yi Peng 3 — 225 meters long and carrying a load of Russian fertilizer — began hauling Russian exports through Europe’s northern sea routes in March 2024. The ship left the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on November 15. 2024, and the “probe now centers on whether the captain … was induced by Russian intelligence to carry out the sabotage,” the Journal stated. “It’s extremely unlikely that the captain would not have noticed that his ship dropped and dragged its anchor, losing speed for hours and cutting cables on the way,” said a senior European investigator involved in the case.
The owner of the ship, Ningbo Yipeng Shipping, was cooperating with authorities and allowed the vessel to be stopped in international waters. Chinese and Russian authorities denied any involvement in the destruction of the cables, said the Journal.
The damage to the cables occurred in Swedish water from November 17 and November 18, 2024. Sweden has opened a sabotage investigation. A Danish warship was the first to intercept and halt the Yi Peng 3.
This latest incident mirrors the October 2023 severing of the Balticconnector undersea gas pipeline and communication cables connecting Estonia and Finland by a Russia-linked, Hong Kong-registered ship, the Newnew Polar Bear. At the time, the Newnew Polar Bear was allowed to leave the Baltic Sea because the initial evidence wasn’t as strong, according to the Journal. However, The South China Morning Post reported in August 2024 that an internal investigative report from Chinese officials admitted that the Newnew Polar Bear was responsible for the incident, but claimed it was a weather-related accident. Finnish authorities are still investigating the incident.