Finland, Sweden investigate suspected sabotage of Baltic Sea telecoms cable

Swedish and Finnish police are investigating a suspected case of sabotage of an undersea telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea, and Sweden's coast guard has deployed a vessel to the area where multiple seabed cables have been damaged in recent months.

The Baltic Sea region is on alert and the NATO alliance has boosted its presence after a series of power cable, telecom and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Most have been caused by civilian ships dragging their anchors.

Finnish operator Cinia on Friday said it had detected problems on its C-Lion1 fibre-optic link connecting Finland and Germany some time ago and that it was confirmed this week that the cable was damaged even as data traffic continued to flow.

A statement from Finland's National Bureau of Investigation said the cable damage was identified on Wednesday and that a preliminary investigation was launched the following day.

Swedish police said they were also investigating the matter because the breach had occurred in Sweden's economic zone, although no suspects had been identified.

Some Baltic Sea incidents have been ruled accidental, including the cutting last month of a different telecoms cable in Swedish waters, while other cases are still under police investigation. No prosecutions have been made so far.

The European Commission, responding to the recent spate of outages, said on Friday it will propose boosting surveillance of undersea cables and establishing a fleet of vessels available to carry out repairs in emergencies.

While the plan covered all of Europe, it would include a Baltic Sea hub intended to detect potential incidents in the area before they even occur, European Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen told a press conference in Helsinki.

NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Friday's incident marks the third time in recent months that Cinia's C-Lion1 cable has been damaged, after it was completely severed in November and December last year.

The company said on January 7 that the cable was fully operational again after the second breach occurred on December 26.

The Swedish coast guard said it had sent a vessel to help investigate the incident off the island of Gotland on Friday.

Sweden's prosecution authority said it was not involved in the investigation of the cable breach.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the government was being briefed and that damage to any undersea infrastructure was particularly concerning amid the current security situation.