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An underwater data cable between Sweden and Latvia was damaged early on Sunday, in at least the fourth episode of potential sabotage in the Baltic Sea in recent months that has caused concern in Nato about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said damage to the cable between the Latvian coastal town of Ventspils and Fårösund on the Swedish island of Gotland was significant and thus was probably caused by an external force.
A criminal investigation has started. Previous incidents have been linked to Russian and Chinese ships.
Latvian authorities sent a patrol boat to inspect a ship that was close to the fibre optic cable belonging to the Baltic country’s state radio and television centre when it was damaged, and was also monitoring two other vessels close by.
The Latvian Navy said the ship was the Michalis San, a Maltese-flagged bulk carrier en route to Russia from Algeria, although it found no sign of suspicious activity on board, Latvian television reported.
Ulf Kristersson, Sweden’s prime minister, said that “at least one” data cable had been damaged and that he had been in touch with Siliņa, and was co-operating closely with Nato.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen expressed her “full solidarity” with Baltic countries, adding that “resilience and security of our critical infrastructure is a top priority” for the EU.
Nato last week announced it would deploy drones, submarines, ships and aircraft in the Baltic Sea to help detect and prevent sabotage attempts against critical infrastructure in a mission known as Baltic Sentry after three previous sets of cables were damaged in recent months.
Finnish authorities last month seized control of a vessel belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers — ageing, poorly maintained vessels registered in remote jurisdictions such as the Cook Islands and used to circumvent international sanctions — as they started a criminal investigation into aggravated sabotage over the incident.
Nato allies have hailed Finland’s actions in seizing the ship as exemplary, following two previous potential incidents of sabotage where the suspect vessels left the Baltic Sea.
The first occurred in late 2023 when a Chinese container ship, the Newnew Polar Bear, cut a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia with its anchor but was not stopped.
The second involved a Chinese bulk carrier, the Yi Peng 3, which in November passed over two data cables in the Baltic Sea around the times they were severed.
It stopped for a month in international waters between Denmark and Sweden, and Chinese investigators boarded it. But the Swedish government criticised Beijing for not allowing the lead Swedish investigator to board or inspect the vessel.
The latest incident comes as the three Baltic states are preparing to disconnect their electricity systems from the former Soviet network in early February and integrate themselves into the continental European grid, with some fearing further potential disruption ahead of that.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have joined the EU and Nato since regaining their independence after their forced annexation by the Soviet Union, and see their switch to the European electricity system as their final integration into the west.
Kęstutis Budrys, Lithuania’s foreign minister, said navigation rules in the Baltic Sea needed to be reviewed “especially when it comes to the use of anchors” and added there were now so many incidents that there was little chance they could all be accidents.
Repair of data cables has tended to take much less time than that for gas or electricity connections, and the Latvian state radio and television centre said it had found alternative routes for its communications.
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