Swedish Coast Guard detains vessel suspected of sabotage in Baltic Sea
Swedish prosecutors announced an investigation into a ship suspected of damaging undersea cables after it was detained by the Swedish Coast Guard, the AP news agency reported on Jan. 27.
According to information obtained by the AP from a ship-tracker software, the Malta-flagged Vezhen departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga several days earlier and was navigating near the site of damage.
An underwater fiber-optic cable belonging to the Latvian State Radio and Television Broadcasting Center (LVRTC) was significantly damaged on Jan. 26, reportedly due to external impact, according to LVRTC representative Vineta Sprugaine.
The accident came as the latest amid a series of incidents that have damaged critical cables in the Baltic Sea.
The cable connected the Latvian town of Ventspils to Sweden's Gotland island and was located within Sweden's exclusive economic zone, the statement said.
Despite the damage, data transmission services continued using alternate routes, with minimal impact on most end users in Latvia aside from slower data transmission speeds.
The previous instances of damaged cables had raised fears that Russian shadow fleet vessels were intentionally sabotaging the energy and communication lines. As a result, NATO dispatched additional patrol ships to the area earlier this month.
Contradicting these concerns, intelligence services in the U.S. and Europe are increasingly convinced that the incidents were caused by accidents, the Washington Post reported on Jan. 19.
Read also: Sweden to increase military presence in Baltic Sea following suspected cable sabotage
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