Norway releases Russian-occupied ship after suspected cable connection

Norway releases Russian-occupied ship after suspected cable connection

A Norwegian-owned, Russian-occupied ship initially suspected of being involved in the damage to an undersea fiber optic cable connecting Latvia to the Swedish island of Gotland has been reopened.

Norwegian police investigation

Norwegian police announced late Friday evening that no evidence had been found linking the shipSilver Dania, would associate with this incident. Tromsø Police lawyer Ronny Jørgensen explained: "The Tromsø Police District has now carried out a series of investigations and secured everything we consider necessary in view of the request from Latvia. The investigations are continuing, but we see no reason why the ship should stay in Tromsø any longer."

Tromsø harbor incident

TheSilver Daniawas stopped on Thursday evening and taken to the port of Tromsø by a Norwegian coast guard ship on Friday morning. This step was taken at the request of the Latvian authorities and based on a decision by a Norwegian court.

At the time, police said they suspected the ship, which was traveling between the Russian ports of Saint Petersburg and Murmansk, may have been involved in serious cable damage discovered in the Baltic Sea last weekend.

Ship and owner defend themselves

Authorities did not release further details, but they searched the ship and conducted interviews. Tormod Fossmark, the CEO of SilverSea, the company that owns the ship, rejected claims that the ship caused damage as it passed the cable. He assured that the company is cooperating with the authorities on this “serious” matter.

“We are not involved in this at all,” Fossmark told theAssociated Press. “We didn’t have any anchors out or did anything, that will be confirmed today as part of the investigation.” He emphasized that the ship's tracking data showed no irregularities.

Hope to continue the journey soon

Fossmark expressed hope that the ship, which was not carrying any cargo, would be able to continue its journey later in the day. The damage to the data transmission cable running from Ventspils in Latvia to Gotland was discovered on Sunday. Later that day, Swedish prosecutors announced that they had opened a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage and the arrest of another ship, the Maltese shipVezhen, ordered that is suspected of having damaged the cable.

The Bulgarian owner of theVezhenacknowledged that it was possible the ship had accidentally damaged a cable, but dismissed any possibility of sabotage or other crew misconduct.