DISINFO: Balticconnector incident is a provocation needed to boost the US profits
SUMMARY
[...t]he Finnish press, without waiting for the results of the investigation, immediately blamed the Russians.
Judging by the experience with Nord Stream, it’s not even worth waiting for unbiased results of the investigation. Balticconnector itself was put into operation only in 2019. It didn’t play a noticeable role, but it was quite suitable for another provocation.
Experts note that Europe is now almost entirely dependent on American gas supplies. After the Nord Streams were undermined, it was the United States that became the leading supplier, increasing sales of liquefied natural gas almost threefold. But prices have recently begun to fall, and the explosion of another gas pipeline shook the market. It is quite obvious who will make money from this.
RESPONSE
Disinformation claim about the incident on the Balticconnector pipeline, linking Finland to Estonia. A telecom cable was damaged alongside with the Balticconnector on 8 October 2023. These incidents are being investigated jointly by Finnish and Estonian energy operators, as well as by the Finnish police and other competent authorities in both countries.
Even before the Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, pro-Kremlin media pushed gas supplies shortage threats to discourage any EU criticism of the human rights violations in Russia. The Gazprom gas deliveries have also been used as a leverage against Moldova.
Gazprom began to cut supplies to the European Union in the summer of 2021 when the storage season started and left its own UGS facilities in Germany empty by more than half. A group of European Parliament lawmakers asked the European Commission to investigate Gazprom's role in soaring European gas prices in 2021. Pro-Kremlin media were also denigrating the EU's green energy policies, calling green energy "a scam", while Gazprom was called "safer".
These are some of the circumstances in which the EU started looking for alternative energy sources and gas supplies, including from the US. The process was dramatically accelerated by the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, well before the Nord Stream explosions.
Covering the damaging of Balticconnector, the pro-Kremlin outlets notably ignore the potential reasons for also damaging the telecom cable between Finland and Estonia.
See more pro-Kremlin disinformation on energy in general, and numerous cases on alleged vassalship.