Latest news with #TormodFossmark
CNN
31-01-2025
- CNN
Norway seizes Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of causing ‘serious damage' to undersea cable between Latvia and Sweden
Norwegian police have seized a Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of being involved in causing 'serious damage' to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. Troms Police in northern Norway located the Silver Dania ship on Thursday evening, following a request from Latvian authorities, and it was brought into the port of Tromso Friday morning, according to a police statement. 'There is suspicion that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. The police are conducting an operation on the ship to search, conduct interviews, and secure evidence,' the statement said. The Silver Dania is Norwegian-registered and Norwegian-owned, police said, but the crew on board is Russian. The ship was sailing between St. Petersburg and Murmansk in Russia, police said. The owners of the Silver Dania, the Silver Sea shipping group, told CNN they were not involved in damaging the cable. 'The investigation has been going on today and we have had good cooperation with the authorities,' Tormod Fossmark, CEO of Silver Group, told CNN. He added that authorities had not yet found any links connecting the ship with the damaged cable, and the crew has been allowed to prepare the Silver Dania to set sail Friday night. The incident marks the second ship to be seized on suspicion of carrying out sabotage in the last week, after the Swedish Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed Sunday it had boarded a ship following suspected damage to the communications cable running between Sweden and Latvia. Latvia said the damage was likely caused by external forces. This event was the latest in a string of incidents since late 2022, with damage being caused to Europe's infrastructure running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea — pipes carrying natural gas and cables transporting electricity and data. Such incidents have become more frequent over the past couple of years, raising suspicions they are the result of sabotage and triggering a flurry of investigations by European officials — with some openly pointing fingers at Moscow. Russia has denied allegations of involvement in underwater cable sabotage. The Russian Embassy in London last week said NATO was building up naval and air forces under the 'fictitious pretext of the 'Russian threat.'' CNN's Anna Cooban, Nic Robertson and Sarah Dean contributed reporting.
CNN
31-01-2025
- CNN
Norway seizes Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of causing ‘serious damage' to undersea cable between Latvia and Sweden
Norwegian police have seized a Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of being involved in causing 'serious damage' to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. Troms Police in northern Norway located the Silver Dania ship on Thursday evening, following a request from Latvian authorities, and it was brought into the port of Tromso Friday morning, according to a police statement. 'There is suspicion that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. The police are conducting an operation on the ship to search, conduct interviews, and secure evidence,' the statement said. The Silver Dania is Norwegian-registered and Norwegian-owned, police said, but the crew on board is Russian. The ship was sailing between St. Petersburg and Murmansk in Russia, police said. The owners of the Silver Dania, the Silver Sea shipping group, told CNN they were not involved in damaging the cable. 'The investigation has been going on today and we have had good cooperation with the authorities,' Tormod Fossmark, CEO of Silver Group, told CNN. He added that authorities had not yet found any links connecting the ship with the damaged cable, and the crew has been allowed to prepare the Silver Dania to set sail Friday night. The incident marks the second ship to be seized on suspicion of carrying out sabotage in the last week, after the Swedish Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed Sunday it had boarded a ship following suspected damage to the communications cable running between Sweden and Latvia. Latvia said the damage was likely caused by external forces. This event was the latest in a string of incidents since late 2022, with damage being caused to Europe's infrastructure running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea — pipes carrying natural gas and cables transporting electricity and data. Such incidents have become more frequent over the past couple of years, raising suspicions they are the result of sabotage and triggering a flurry of investigations by European officials — with some openly pointing fingers at Moscow. Russia has denied allegations of involvement in underwater cable sabotage. The Russian Embassy in London last week said NATO was building up naval and air forces under the 'fictitious pretext of the 'Russian threat.'' CNN's Anna Cooban, Nic Robertson and Sarah Dean contributed reporting.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Yahoo
Norway seizes Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of causing ‘serious damage' to undersea cable between Latvia and Sweden
Norwegian police have seized a Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of being involved in causing 'serious damage' to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. Troms Police in northern Norway located the Silver Dania ship on Thursday evening, following a request from Latvian authorities, and it was brought into the port of Tromso Friday morning, according to a police statement. 'There is suspicion that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. The police are conducting an operation on the ship to search, conduct interviews, and secure evidence,' the statement said. The Silver Dania is Norwegian-registered and Norwegian-owned, police said, but the crew on board is Russian. The ship was sailing between St. Petersburg and Murmansk in Russia, police said. The owners of the Silver Dania, the Silver Sea shipping group, told CNN they were not involved in damaging the cable. 'The investigation has been going on today and we have had good cooperation with the authorities,' Tormod Fossmark, CEO of Silver Group, told CNN. He added that authorities had not yet found any links connecting the ship with the damaged cable, and the crew has been allowed to prepare the Silver Dania to set sail Friday night. The incident marks the second ship to be seized on suspicion of carrying out sabotage in the last week, after the Swedish Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed Sunday it had boarded a ship following suspected damage to the communications cable running between Sweden and Latvia. Latvia said the damage was likely caused by external forces. This event was the latest in a string of incidents since late 2022, with damage being caused to Europe's infrastructure running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea — pipes carrying natural gas and cables transporting electricity and data. Such incidents have become more frequent over the past couple of years, raising suspicions they are the result of sabotage and triggering a flurry of investigations by European officials — with some openly pointing fingers at Moscow. Russia has denied allegations of involvement in underwater cable sabotage. The Russian Embassy in London last week said NATO was building up naval and air forces under the 'fictitious pretext of the 'Russian threat.'' CNN's Anna Cooban, Nic Robertson and Sarah Dean contributed reporting.
CNN
31-01-2025
- CNN
Norway seizes Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of causing ‘serious damage' to undersea cable between Latvia and Sweden
Norwegian police have seized a Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of being involved in causing 'serious damage' to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. Troms Police in northern Norway located the Silver Dania ship on Thursday evening, following a request from Latvian authorities, and it was brought into the port of Tromso Friday morning, according to a police statement. 'There is suspicion that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. The police are conducting an operation on the ship to search, conduct interviews, and secure evidence,' the statement said. The Silver Dania is Norwegian-registered and Norwegian-owned, police said, but the crew on board is Russian. The ship was sailing between St. Petersburg and Murmansk in Russia, police said. The owners of the Silver Dania, the Silver Sea shipping group, told CNN they were not involved in damaging the cable. 'The investigation has been going on today and we have had good cooperation with the authorities,' Tormod Fossmark, CEO of Silver Group, told CNN. He added that authorities had not yet found any links connecting the ship with the damaged cable, and the crew has been allowed to prepare the Silver Dania to set sail Friday night. The incident marks the second ship to be seized on suspicion of carrying out sabotage in the last week, after the Swedish Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed Sunday it had boarded a ship following suspected damage to the communications cable running between Sweden and Latvia. Latvia said the damage was likely caused by external forces. This event was the latest in a string of incidents since late 2022, with damage being caused to Europe's infrastructure running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea — pipes carrying natural gas and cables transporting electricity and data. Such incidents have become more frequent over the past couple of years, raising suspicions they are the result of sabotage and triggering a flurry of investigations by European officials — with some openly pointing fingers at Moscow. Russia has denied allegations of involvement in underwater cable sabotage. The Russian Embassy in London last week said NATO was building up naval and air forces under the 'fictitious pretext of the 'Russian threat.'' CNN's Anna Cooban, Nic Robertson and Sarah Dean contributed reporting.
The Independent
31-01-2025
- The Independent
Norway stops a ship suspected of involvement in damage to a Baltic Sea cable
A Norwegian-owned and Russian-crewed ship that authorities suspect may have been involved in damage to an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland has been stopped off Norway, police said Friday. The Silver Dania was stopped on Thursday evening and brought into the port of Tromsø in northern Norway on Friday morning by a Norwegian coast guard vessel for inspection, Norwegian police said in a statement. They said that followed a request from Latvian authorities and a ruling by a Norwegian court. Police said there's suspicion that the ship, which was sailing between the Russian ports of St. Petersburg and Murmansk when it was detained, had been involved earlier in serious cable damage that was discovered last weekend in the Baltic Sea. The authorities didn't elaborate, but said they were searching the ship and conducting interviews. Tormod Fossmark, CEO of the SilverSea company that owns the ship, denied that the vessel caused any damage when it had sailed through the area of the cable, and said that the company was cooperating with authorities on what it considered a 'serious' matter. 'We have no involvement in this whatsoever," Fossmark told The Associated Press. "We did not have any anchors out or do anything, so that will be confirmed today' in the investigation, he said. He stressed that she ship's tracking data shows no irregularities in its journey. Fossmark said he hoped the vessel, which wasn't yet carrying any cargo on Friday, would be able to sail onward later in the day. Damage to the data transmission cable running from Ventspils, Latvia, to Gotland was detected on Sunday. Later that day, Swedish prosecutors announced that they had opened a preliminary investigation into suspected sabotage and ordered the detention of a vessel suspected of damaging the cable, the Malta-flagged Vezhen. That ship's Bulgarian owner said that it was possible that the Vezhen had accidentally caused a cable to break, but dismissed any possibility of sabotage or any other action on the part of the crew.
