An underwater cable was once again severed in the Baltic Sea. This time it is a cable that connects Latvia with the Swedish island of Gotland. A Bulgarian ship, which was sailing under the Maltese flag, was detained for the incident.
What is known about the ship "Vezhen"
The Swedish Coast Guard has detained the ship "Vezhen", which is part of the "Bulgarian Maritime Fleet" and was sailing under the Maltese flag. The Executive Director of the “Bulgarian Maritime Fleet" Captain Alexander Kalchev said that it is possible that the ship hit the underwater cable in the Baltic Sea. He said the cause was that one of the ship's anchors had fallen due to strong winds, and the cable damage was not intentional.
Data from the ship tracking website Vesselfinder shows that the ship is currently in the Baltic Sea, south of the port of Karlskrona, with a Swedish coast guard vessel in close proximity. According to Vesselfinder, the ship had left the Russian port of Ust-Luga a few days earlier and was sailing between Gotland and Latvia at the time the damage to the submarine cable is believed to have occurred.
"Serious damage"
"This is likely damage caused by external actors and is serious. "The navy is currently inspecting to determine the location of the damage," Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silinja said.
The damaged submarine cable is used by the Latvian national radio and television. It is located at a depth of more than 50 meters, the Latvian navy said. Therefore, it is difficult to determine exactly what caused the damage, but initial checks indicate that it was sabotage.
Swedish and Latvian authorities are investigating the incident jointly with NATO. Today, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaia Kallas is due to meet with the foreign ministers of the EU countries to discuss how to prevent attacks on underwater infrastructure and a common strategy to counter Russian hybrid attacks.
Increasingly frequent attacks on underwater cables
In November, two fiber-optic links in the Baltic Sea were damaged within a short period of time. A cable between Sweden and Lithuania and a link between Finland and Germany were affected.
At the end of December, Estlink2 - the underwater cable between Finland and Estonia - went out of service, ARD recalls. Finland believes it was sabotage and is conducting an investigation. After the incidents, NATO announced that it would send ships and patrol aircraft to the Baltic Sea in the future. Just two weeks ago, NATO's Baltic neighbors discussed measures to monitor critical infrastructure in Helsinki.