Sweden is investigating sabotage of telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea

Sweden is investigating sabotage of telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea

On Friday, Swedish police announced that they had investigated a suspected case of sabotage on a submarine cable in the Baltic Sea examined. Sweden's coast guard has dispatched a ship to the region, where several have visited in recent months Seabed cable were damaged.

Crisis in the Baltic Sea

The Baltic Sea region is on alert and NATO has increased its presence following a series of failures in power cables, telecommunications links and gas pipelines since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Most of these incidents were caused by civilian vessels dragging their anchors.

Damage and consequences for communication

Finnish telecommunications provider Cinia reported on Friday that minor damage had been detected on its undersea fiber optic link C-Lion1, which connects Finland and Germany. Fortunately, this has no impact on the functionality of the cable.

Swedish police investigation

Swedish police are investigating the incident as the damage occurred in Sweden's economic zone, police spokesman Mathias Rutegard told Reuters. “The preliminary investigation is related to suspicion of sabotage,” added Rutegard.

Repeated damage to C-Lion1

This is the third time in recent months that Cinia's C-Lion1 cable has been damaged. It had previously been completely severed in November and December last year. The Swedish Coast Guard has sent a ship to support investigations near the island of Gotland.

Government reactions

Swedish prosecutors said they were not involved in the investigation into the cable incident. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the government would be informed of the incident and that damage to any undersea infrastructure was particularly worrying given the current security situation.