Sweden arrests ship after sabotage in Baltic Sea

The undersea fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on January 26, allegedly as a result of external influence. This prompted NATO to send patrol ships to the area, and Swedish authorities launched an investigation into the sabotage.

“We are now carrying out a number of concrete investigative measures, but I cannot go into what they consist of due to the ongoing preliminary investigation,” said Senior Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist.

NATO is coordinating warships and aircraft as part of its newly deployed Baltic Guardian mission. These efforts follow a series of incidents in which power cables, telecommunications lines, and gas pipelines were damaged after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Latvian Prime Minister Ewika Silinia said her government is coordinating with NATO and other countries in the Baltic Sea region to clarify the circumstances of the latest incident.

“We have determined that there is most likely external damage and that it is significant,” Silinia told reporters after an extraordinary government meeting.

Earlier, the Latvian Navy said it had sent a patrol boat to inspect the vessel and that 2 other vessels were also subject to inspection.

According to the ship tracking service MarineTraffic, up to several thousand commercial vessels pass through the Baltic Sea at any given time, and several of them passed by the broken cable on Sunday.

According to MarineTraffic, one of these vessels, the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier Vezhen, was escorted into Swedish waters by a Swedish coast guard vessel on Sunday evening. It later anchored off the Swedish naval base in Karlskrona in southern Sweden.

Cooperation with NATO

Swedish Navy spokesman Jimmie Adamsson told Reuters earlier that it was too early to say what caused the cable damage and whether it was a deliberate act or a technical malfunction.

“NATO ships and aircrafts are working together with national resources from the Baltic Sea countries to investigate and, if necessary, take action,” the alliance said in a statement.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his country was working closely with NATO and Latvia.

Last week, NATO said it would deploy frigates, patrol aircraft, and maritime drones in the Baltic Sea to protect critical infrastructure and reserves the right to take action against ships suspected of posing a security threat.

Last month, Finnish police arrested a tanker carrying Russian oil and said they suspected the vessel had damaged the Estlink 2 Finnish-Estonian power line and four telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.

Finland's Prime Minister said the latest cable damage underscores the need to strengthen the protection of critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

According to the Latvian Navy, the cable that was cut on January 26 connected the Latvian city of Ventspils to the Swedish island of Gotland and was damaged in Sweden's exclusive economic zone.

The cable's operator, the Latvian State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC) said that communication service providers were able to switch to alternative data transmission routes, adding that it was trying to sign a contract for a ship to begin repairs.

“The exact nature of the damage can only be determined once cable repair work begins,” LVRTC said.

A representative of the operator said that the cable was laid at a depth of more than 50 meters.

Unlike subsea gas pipelines and power cables, which can take months to repair after damage, fiber optic cables damaged in the Baltic Sea are usually repaired within a few weeks.