Swedish authorities have detained a cargo ship suspected of damaging an undersea communications cable, prompting a criminal probe and highlighting NATO’s growing concerns about Baltic Sea infrastructure security.
Prosecutors ordered the Maltese-flagged Vezhen held at Karlskrona port while police, military and coast guard investigators examine damage to the data cable linking Sweden and Latvia.
Early morning today we received information that the data cable from Latvia to Sweden was damaged in the Baltic Sea, in the section that is located in the Exclusive economic zone of Sweden. We are working together with our Swedish Allies and NATO on investigating the incident,…
— Evika Siliņa 🇱🇻🇺🇦 (@EvikaSilina) January 26, 2025
The ship’s Bulgarian operator claims high winds forced an anchor drop that damaged the cable accidentally. Latvia’s military counters that its forces spotted three vessels near the incident site.
BREAKING:
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) January 26, 2025
Swedish, Finnish & Estonian warships have seized or intercepted 2 vessels suspected of destroying a Swedish-Latvian undersea fiberoptic cable.
🇫🇮🇪🇪 have surrounded the Russian shadow fleet LNG tanker Pskov while the 🇸🇪 have seized the Bulgarian-owned bulker MV Vezhen pic.twitter.com/RPOKSAUbqj
NATO launched its Baltic Sentry operation this month specifically to prevent such incidents after multiple cable attacks in 2024. The mission deploys warships, aircraft, and drones to monitor suspicious vessels, particularly what NATO chief Mark Rutte calls Russia’s “shadow fleet” — ships that transport embargoed oil under unclear ownership.
There is “reason for grave concern,” Rutte said, announcing plans to board and potentially seize suspect vessels.
Latvia’s state broadcaster LVRTC, which owns the damaged cable, reports service disruptions but says most users remain unaffected. Prime Minister Evika Silina pledged close coordination with Swedish and NATO officials.
Related: Finland Seizes Suspected Russian ‘Shadow Fleet’ Tanker After Cable Damage
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