NewsTracker Answers for week of Oct. 16, 2023

Q: President Vladimir Putin denied last week that Russia damaged a natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. Finnish officials have said they could not rule out that a hostile state actor damaged both the pipeline and an underwater communications cable at different points. Where are Estonia and Finland?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The pipeline that connects Finland to Estonia and the wider gas network in the European Union lies beneath which body of water?

A. Baltic Sea

B. Barents Sea

C. Bering Sea

D. Black Sea

A. The pipeline crosses the Baltic Sea’s Gulf of Finland, which also is Russia’s connection to the sea. Finland is the latest nation to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance of 29 European nations, the United States and Canada. Finland and fellow NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were previously ruled by the Russians.

Q: Putin said suspicions of sabotage on the Finland-Estonia pipeline were distracting attention about “the terrorist attack carried out by the West against Nord Stream." The Nord Stream pipeline carried natural gas across the Baltic Sea from Russia to which nation?

A. Finland

B. Germany

C. Poland

D. Sweden

B. Two Nord Stream pipelines to Germany were sabotaged last year while they were not operating because of a dispute over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia blamed Britain and in turn the United States for the explosions that cut the pipelines. It also denied that Russian ships in the area at the time had anything to do with the damage. Later, there were reports that Ukrainians cut the lines.

Q: After Russia invaded Ukraine, Finland and its western neighbor Sweden gave up decades of neutrality and asked to join the NATO alliance. Finland joined in April, but Sweden’s bid to join NATO has been held up by which member of the alliance?

A. Britain

B. France

C. Greece

D. Turkey

D. Turkey objected to Swedish membership over alleged concerns that Sweden was giving asylum to Kurds whom Turkey considers terrorists. Turkish leaders now say they will back Sweden’s bid if the United States keeps its promise to sell F-16 warplanes to Turkey. Finnish intelligence officials said last week that Russia is treating Finland as a hostile country because it joined NATO.

Q: One reason for Russia’s invasion was concern that Ukraine might join NATO, but the invasion triggered Finland to join the military alliance. Which nation has a longer border with Russia?

A. Finland

B. Ukraine

B. Ukraine’s border with Russia is 1,426 miles long, compared with Finland’s 830-mile border. NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania share 486 miles of border with Russia. Those Baltic nations have been the among most outspoken critics of Putin. Last week, bomb threats issued in Russian shut schools across the three nations.