Germany Russian ship's crew fires during Bundeswehr operation

There was an incident between a Bundeswehr helicopter and a Russian ship in the Baltic Sea. The crew of the Russian ship fired signal ammunition, the German Press Agency in Brussels was told. According to military sources, the on-board helicopter of a frigate had been on a reconnaissance mission.

Previously, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) had briefly mentioned the incident on the fringes of a NATO meeting in Brussels. However, she did not give any details. According to dpa information, it occurred last week. The tanker is said to have been traveling in the company of a Russian warship.

Signal ammunition is actually intended for emergencies

The use of signaling ammunition is actually only common in emergency situations. Baerbock had pointed out that there are always ships in the Baltic Sea that are involved in circumventing sanctions due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

There were initially no concrete indications that the tanker now involved in the incident was also being used to circumvent sanctions. According to NATO circles, the German frigate with the on-board helicopter was not traveling on behalf of the military alliance.

Ministry of Defense: act calmly and de-escalate the situation

A spokesperson for the German Ministry of Defense did not wish to comment on the specific case. Breaches of the rules at sea or in airspace happen from time to time, he said. "And then it is a matter of the navy or the air force reacting calmly and de-escalating," he said in response to a question at the Berlin government press conference.

Baerbock announces more patrols

At the NATO meeting in Brussels, Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock announced, among other things, that surveillance of pipelines and data cables in the Baltic Sea would be stepped up. Specifically, she mentioned the protection of critical infrastructure through patrols. The reason for this is the increase in hybrid attacks originating from Russia and its supporters.

As an example, Baerbock mentioned the destruction of cables, the jamming of the global positioning system GPS and the incident with the German army helicopter and the tanker.

Suspicions also against Chinese ships

Most recently, damage to two fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea occurred within a short period of time in November. These were a cable running between Sweden and Lithuania and one between Finland and Germany. The cause is still unclear in both cases. The Swedish authorities are investigating possible sabotage. The investigators are focusing on a Chinese ship called "Yi Peng 3", which is said to have passed the affected parts of the cables at the time in question. A gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was previously severely damaged last year.

Following the damage to the communication cables in the Baltic Sea, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk recently proposed joint surveillance of the sea by the navies of the western littoral states.

In addition to Russia, China, North Korea and Iran in particular are accused of wanting to weaken states in Europe with so-called hybrid attacks. This generic term covers actions that state or non-state actors use to harm other countries without waging open warfare. As a rule, they are difficult or impossible to attribute to a specific perpetrator.

SDA