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European Parliament's Security Committee discusses Vezhen ship incident in the Baltic Sea

Photo: Sailing Directorate

The case with the detained Bulgarian ship Vezhen was discussed behind closed doors in the European Parliament's Security and Defense Committee on Tuesday, announced Bulgarian MEP Andrey Novakov. According to him, it is possible that third parties on the detained ship damaged the fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden, and not its crew, reported BNR correspondent in Brussels Angelina Piskova.
"Some of the data seems quite worrying and we need answers very soon so as not to cast a stain on Bulgaria and the Bulgarian crew," Novakov told BNR. According to the MEP, there are no doubts about the Bulgarian state or the ship's crew, but there are about the ship's behavior.

"Let's say it's doubtful and we urgently need to get an answer as to why it happened. At the very least, because the ship is very new – 2 years old – and even three-meter waves shouldn't have caused such damage. Moreover, even if it had, the next anchor should have been lowered and the ship stopped until it was repaired," Novakov reasoned.

He has his own hypothesis about the incident. "The common denominator in almost all of these cases is the departure of different types of ships from a Russian port. I don't rule out the possibility that there were more than just the crews on board these ships and that sabotage occurred without their knowledge," the MEP explains.



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