An undersea fibre optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was broken on Sunday, in all probability because of exterior affect, Riga has stated, including that its navy had dispatched a patrol boat to examine a vessel suspected of involvement.
Two different vessels within the space had been additionally topic to investigation, Latvia’s navy stated.
“Now we have decided that there’s more than likely exterior harm and that it’s important,” the Latvian prime minister, Evika Siliņa, informed reporters after a unprecedented authorities assembly.
Latvia was coordinating with Nato and the international locations of the Baltic Sea area to make clear the circumstances, she stated individually in a publish on X.
Nato stated final week it might deploy frigates, patrol plane and naval drones within the Baltic Sea to assist defend essential infrastructure and reserved the correct to take motion in opposition to ships suspected of posing a safety menace.
The army alliance is taking the motion, named “Baltic Sentry”, after a string of incidents by which energy cables, telecom hyperlinks and gasoline pipelines have been broken since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, stated his nation was cooperating intently with Latvia and Nato over the newest incident. “Sweden will contribute essential capabilities to the continuing effort to analyze the suspected incident,” Kristersson stated on X.
Finnish police final month seized a tanker carrying Russian oil and stated they suspected the vessel had broken the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 energy line and 4 telecoms cables by dragging its anchor throughout the seabed.
The cable that broke early on Sunday linked the Latvian metropolis of Ventspils with Sweden’s Gotland island, and was broken in Sweden’s unique financial zone, the Latvian navy stated.
A Swedish Submit and Telecom Authority spokesperson stated it was conscious of the state of affairs however had no additional remark.
The Swedish navy and coastguard didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
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