Sweden suspects ‘massive sabotage’ after cable damage under Baltic Sea

Swedish authorities on Monday boarded a ship in what they described as “massive sabotage” after an undersea transmission cable was damaged in the Baltic Sea a day earlier. The boat was taken to the coast of Sweden for investigation, authorities said.

“We suspect that a major act of sabotage was carried out in the Swedish economic zone yesterday,” Mats Ljungqvist, the Swedish prosecutor leading the damage investigation, said in a telephone interview on Monday.

Authorities have not yet made public the nature or extent of the damage to the communication cable, which runs between Sweden and Latvia.

The incident follows another attempted sabotage of cables under the Baltic Sea, which has recently become the theater of a possible hybrid war between NATO and Russia.

Two weeks ago, the Atlantic Alliance began a new inspection and monitoring operation to protect critical infrastructure in the sea, which is located off the coast of Russia, after several cables were cut.

The NATO mission, called Baltic Sentry, is designed to help protect submarine cables and pipelines by improving the alliance’s presence in the region, said Mark Rutte, the secretary-general of NATO. organization. Activities include frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, naval satellites, remote control vehicles and drones.

NATO, of which Sweden is the newest member, said the mission was an effort “to improve the security of undersea infrastructure and to respond if needed.”

Alliance officials have consistently said that, while they suspect Russia of being behind the cable and pipeline sabotage, exact responsibility is hard to prove.

Sweden’s security services said a preliminary investigation suggested Sunday’s incident may have been an attempt to target Swedish interests. The seized vessel is “suspected of sabotage,” the defense ministry said in a statement issued Monday.

“Currently, the Swedish authorities are on board to carry out various investigative measures,” Johan Wikstrom, a spokesman for the service, said by phone on Monday.

Mr. Ljungqvist, the prosecutor, said that the seized vessel was named Vezhen.

Navigation Maritime Bulgare, the Bulgarian shipping company that lists the Vezhen among its ships as bulk carriers with the Maltese flag, published a statement on its website on Monday about the “force situation force majeure that occurred due to unfavorable hydrometeorological conditions in the country.”

The company said it had “no information about any deliberate action by the team” that could have caused the cable damage and expressed its support for authorities in the investigation.

Mr. Wikstrom said the coast guard on Sunday escorted the vessel to the Swedish coast. It is now located outside Karlskrona, a southern city that is home to Sweden’s largest naval base as well as the headquarters of the coast guard.

Mr. Wikstrom declined to provide other details about the seized vessel or how and where authorities discovered the cable damage.

NATO ships and aircraft have responded to the reported damage and are working with their regional allies, the alliance said Monday in an email.

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said in a social media post that Latvian, Swedish and NATO officials were working together to investigate the incident, patrolling the area and inspecting ships. He added that the cables in Sweden’s economic zone had been damaged and authorities had begun a “criminal investigation”.

In late December, Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker they suspected of cutting undersea cables, accusing the ship of being part of Russia’s “shadow” Western officials believe Russia is using it to evade sanctions. In response, NATO said it would increase security in the region and the European Union threatened new sanctions against Moscow.

In November, several European countries detained Chinese merchant ships after two fiber optic cables were cut. Germany’s defense minister described the wiretapping as an act of “sabotage” aimed at European countries that have backed Ukraine during its war with Russia, although US officials said the cut was not intentional. those.

In 2022, an explosion damaged part of the Nord Stream pipeline, halting Russian natural gas shipments to Western Europe. US intelligence has identified a pro-Ukrainian group, although many remain murky about the incident.

The telegram that was damaged on Sunday belongs to the regional center of radio and television of Latvia, according to the statement of the center on Sunday night.

The statement noted that, since the cable is more than 160 meters deep, once the repair work has started, the center will be able to identify the exact damage.

Steven Erlanger contributed to the report from Berlin.