Feb 21 – The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the NATO military alliance has boosted its presence with frigates, aircraft and naval drones.
Several investigations are under way but no suspects have been brought to trial.
FEBRUARY 2025: FINLAND-GERMANY TELECOM CABLE
Swedish and Finnish police said on February 21 they were investigating a suspected case of sabotage of an undersea telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea, while Sweden’s coast guard deployed a vessel to the location where the damage occurred.
No suspects have so far been identified, investigators said.
Finnish operator Cinia said it had “some time” earlier detected problems on its C-Lion1 link connecting Finland and Germany and that it had eventually received confirmation that the cable was damaged even as data traffic continued to flow.
The incident marked the third time in just a few months that the C-Lion1 cable was damaged, after it was completely severed in November and December of 2024.
The European Commission said it will spend almost a billion euros to boost surveillance of cables and establish a fleet of emergency repair vessels.
JANUARY 2025: SWEDEN-LATVIA TELECOM CABLE
An undersea fibre optic cable connecting the west coast of Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland malfunctioned on January 26, triggering an investigation by NATO and local police.
Sweden later seized and boarded the Maltese-flagged bulk vessel Vezhen on suspicion that it had caused the damage in an act of gross sabotage.
Bulgarian shipping company Navigation Maritime Bulgare said that the Vezhen’s anchor had dropped to the seabed in high winds and may have struck the cable, but denied any sabotage.
A Swedish prosecutor on February 3 concluded that the breach happened by accident and released the vessel.
DECEMBER 2024: POWER AND INTERNET CABLES
The Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia was damaged on December 25 along with four telecoms lines.
Finland seized the Cook Islands-registered Eagle S tanker on suspicion it caused the damage by dragging its anchor, adding that the ship was part of a “shadow fleet” circumventing sanctions on Russian oil.
The Kremlin said the ship’s seizure was of little concern to it, and Russia has previously denied involvement in such incidents.
Finnish police said on December 29 they had found tracks on the seabed where they suspect the Eagle S of damaging the cables, and investigators later recovered a lost anchor they said was believed to belong to the ship.
A Finnish court has rejected a request by the ship’s owner, United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, seeking the release of the ship.
NOVEMBER 2024: BALTIC TELECOM CABLES
Two undersea fibre-optic communications cables located more than 100 nautical miles apart in the Baltic Sea were severed on November 17 and 18, raising suspicions of sabotage.
Investigators zeroed in on Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3, and a Reuters analysis of MarineTraffic data showed that the ship’s coordinates corresponded to the time and place of the breaches.
China allowed representatives from Germany, Sweden, Finland and Denmark on December 21 to board the Yi Peng 3 along with Chinese investigators, after a month-long diplomatic standoff.
OCTOBER 2023: BALTICCONNECTOR GAS PIPE AND CABLES
A subsea gas pipeline, the Balticconnector, which links Finland and Estonia, was severed by what Finnish investigators determined was Chinese container vessel NewNew Polar Bear dragging its anchor early on October 8, 2023.
Estonian police suspect the ship of also damaging telecoms cables connecting Estonia to Finland and Sweden on October 7-8, before hitting the gas pipeline on its way to a port near St Petersburg in Russia.
China promised Finland and Estonia assistance with the investigations but Estonian authorities have said the Chinese did little to fulfil its promises.
SEPTEMBER 2022: NORD STREAM BLASTS
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, built across the Baltic Sea by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom to pump natural gas to Germany, were damaged in explosions on September 26, 2022.
In the investigations, Sweden found traces of explosives on several objects recovered from the site, confirming it was a deliberate act, but Sweden and Denmark closed their investigations without naming suspects in 2024.
Some Western officials have suggested Moscow blew up its own pipelines, an interpretation dismissed by Russia, which has blamed the United States, Britain and Ukraine for the blasts, which largely cut Russian gas off from the European market.
Those countries denied involvement.
In August 2024, Germany asked Poland to arrest a Ukrainian diving instructor accused of being part of a team that blew up the pipelines. Poland said the man left the country before he could be detained.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
