Sweden investigating new Baltic Sea cable damage: coast guard

STOCKHOLM: Swedish prosecutors are investigating suspected damage to an underwater cable in the Baltic Sea east of the island of Gotland, the country’s coast guard said Friday.

The statement came after a string of incidents involving damage to cables and other infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, amid soaring tensions between the West and Russia over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

A spokeswoman for the Swedish coast guard said the prosecution authority had opened an investigation, in which they were assisting.

“We have a ship called KBV 003 on its way to east of Gotland. It is in the Swedish economic zone and we are assisting with the crime scene investigation,“ Karin Cars told AFP.

Cars said she did not have information about when the damage occurred, but said the coast guard had started heading towards the site the night before.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a post to X that the government was monitoring the situation.

“We take all reports of possible damage to infrastructure in the Baltic Sea very seriously. As I have said before, they must be seen in the context of the serious security situation,“ Kristersson said.

Tensions have mounted around the Baltic Sea since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe in September 2022, the cause of which has yet to be determined.

In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.

Two telecom cables in Swedish waters were severed on November 17-18 last year.

And weeks later, on December 25, the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged.

In January, NATO announced the launch of a Baltic Sea patrol mission, Baltic Sentry, to secure critical underwater infrastructure.