Burak Bir
27 January 2025•Update: 27 January 2025
LONDON
An underwater fiber optic cable linking Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland has been damaged due to an "external influence," local media reported Sunday.
The cable belongs to Latvia State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC). LVRTC’s data transmission monitoring system detected a disruption of data transmission services between the Latvian port city of Ventspil and Gotland, Public Broadcasting of Latvia reported.
Vineta Sprugaine, head of corporate communications at LVRTC, said there are grounds to believe that the cable is "significantly damaged" and that it is due to "external influences."
Repair work on the cable, laid at depths of more than 50 meters (164 feet), will start as soon as an agreement is reached to put the repair vessel to sea, according to the report.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said they received the information about the damage Sunday morning, which occurred in a section located in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone.
"We are working together with our Swedish allies and NATO on investigating the incident, including patrolling the area, as well as inspecting the vessels that were in the area," she wrote on X.
Latvian authorities have intensified information exchange and launched a criminal investigation, added Silina.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said there is information suggesting that at least one data cable, owned by a Latvian entity, has been damaged in the Baltic Sea.
Kristersson noted that he has been in close contact with his Latvian counterpart.
"Sweden, Latvia and NATO are closely cooperating on the matter. Sweden will contribute with relevant capabilities to the effort to investigate the suspected incident," he wrote on X.
European Council President Antonio Costa said he is following with "deep concern" yet another incident affecting critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
Costa also expressed full solidarity with Sweden and Latvia.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas noted that Sunday's incident has become the latest episode in a series of Baltic Sea incidents.
"Tomorrow, I will discuss with Foreign Ministers how to better deter and respond to hybrid threats amid Russia's intensified campaign," she wrote on X.
Baltic Sea incidents
The Baltic Sea has been the location of several high-profile infrastructure incidents since the onset of Russia's war on Ukraine in February 2022, which heightened tensions in the region.
Late December, Finland reported that the Eagle S tanker had been detained in connection with a subsea cable damage incident that occurred on Christmas Day.
Last November, two telecommunications cables linking Sweden and Denmark were severed. Authorities suspect the Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3, which sailed over the cables, while China denied Sweden's request to investigate the ship.
The Arelion submarine cable, which connects the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania, and the C-Lion 1 submarine communications cable that runs between Finland’s capital Helsinki and the German city of Rostock were also damaged in mid-November near Sweden's territorial waters.
European officials have suggested that sabotage could be behind the recent disruptions, potentially linked to Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine. But the Kremlin has rejected the claims, calling them “absurd.”
Explosions in September 2022 that ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Europe remain unresolved, underscoring the region's vulnerability to undersea attacks on key infrastructure.
Authorities across the Baltic region continue to investigate these incidents amid heightened vigilance as geopolitical tensions show no sign of abating.
