Russia getting froggie outside the war zone?
No doubt you’ve seen the stories that Russia wished Ukraine a Merry Christmas by trying to take down Ukraine’s power grid. Well, the two of them are fighting, so one could say that this is a semi-legitimate target in time of war, right?
But there are also indications that Russia is expanding its operations to include other countries. is this in retribution for all the Western armaments being poured into Ukraine for use against the Russians? Sure could be construed as such.
We know about the underseas cables damaged around Denmark and Finland to Lithuania and Sweden. The biggest suspect, the Chinese-registered Yi Peng 3, stopped at a Russian port immediately before it ‘accidentally’ dragged its anchor 100 miles across the cables. Recent information shows it looped back across a cable 10 days earlier, too, but seems to have failed to cut that cable. One suspects either the world’s stupidest crew or active complicity for failing to notice a dragging anchor for several days on end? Newsweek
In the same vein, a Cook-Islands registered member of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ (which bootlegs Russian oil in contravention of international agreements, not to mention maritime registration and insurance regs) has been detained by the Finns after its dragging anchor seems to have damaged an underseas power cable providing electricity to Finland.
The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands, but was described by Finnish customs officials as a suspected part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers, Yle television reported. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
The Estlink-2 power cable, which brings electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, went down on Wednesday. The incident follows damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of which have been termed sabotage. AP
Meanwhile, somewhat east and south of there, an Azerbaijan Airline flight made a rough landing near the Kasakh city of Aktau, killing 38 on board. Twenty-nine others on board survived the flight from Baku, Azebaijan to Grozny, Chechnya.
Footage of the crash showed the plane making a steep descent before smashing into the ground in a fireball.
Other footage showed part of its fuselage ripped away from the wings and the rest of the aircraft lying upside down in the grass.
For those as unfamiliar with Caspian geography as I am, Aktau is nearly 180 degrees off the best flight plan. Imagine a flight north from New Orleans to Kansas City via St. Louis crashing in Cincinatti?
Russian news agencies said the plane had been rerouted due to fog in Grozny.
Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.
There is speculation that Russia was involved, either diverting the plane (as we talked about in March at MIJI ) or shooting it down. Or both.
Pictures of the plane wreckage showed what appeared to be some sort of shrapnel damage to the tail section of the plane. Aviation security firm Osprey Flight Solutions said in an alert to airlines on Wednesday that footage of the wreckage and the circumstances around the air space in southwest Russia indicated the possibility that the airliner was hit by some form of anti-aircraft fire.
Russia, for its part, denies any such intentional activity. Reuters But with heavy drone raids launched on both sides, counter-drone activities certainly could play a role.
