An undersea fibre optic cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged on Sunday, probably as a result of external influence, Riga has said, adding that its navy had dispatched a patrol boat to inspect a vessel suspected of involvement.
Two other vessels in the area were also subject to investigation, Latvia’s navy said.
“We have determined that there is most likely external damage and that it is significant,” the Latvian prime minister, Evika Siliņa, told reporters after an extraordinary government meeting.
Latvia was coordinating with Nato and the countries of the Baltic Sea region to clarify the circumstances, she said separately in a post on X.
Nato said last week it would deploy frigates, patrol aircraft and naval drones in the Baltic Sea to help protect critical infrastructure and reserved the right to take action against ships suspected of posing a security threat.
The military alliance is taking the action, named “Baltic Sentry”, after a string of incidents in which power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been damaged since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said his country was cooperating closely with Latvia and Nato over the latest incident. “Sweden will contribute important capabilities to the ongoing effort to investigate the suspected incident,” Kristersson said on X.
Finnish police last month seized a tanker carrying Russian oil and said they suspected the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.
The cable that broke early on Sunday linked the Latvian city of Ventspils with Sweden’s Gotland island, and was damaged in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone, the Latvian navy said.
A Swedish Post and Telecom Authority spokesperson said it was aware of the situation but had no further comment.
The Swedish navy and coastguard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.