On February 21, Swedish police announced that they are investigating an incident where an undersea telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea appears to have been damaged. The Coast Guard has dispatched a ship to the relevant area. This crucial undersea cable had been damaged twice in November and December last year.
Finnish telecom operator Cinia stated that they have discovered minor damage to the C-Lion1 undersea fiber optic cable connecting Finland and Germany, but the cable’s functionality remains unaffected.
Swedish authorities stated that they are investigating the incident as the damage occurred in Sweden’s economic zone. They have not identified any suspects yet, and the investigation aims to clarify the circumstances of the event and determine whether it is new damage or old damage.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed concern, stating that the government is receiving briefings and that damage to undersea infrastructure is especially worrying in the current security situation.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Baltic Sea region has been on high alert, and NATO has increased its military presence in the area due to a series of failures in power cables, telecommunications, and natural gas pipelines. Most of the failures were caused by civilian ships dragging anchors.
The undersea cable issue discovered on Friday is the third time the C-Lion1 cable has been damaged in recent months. In November last year, this cable and a telecommunications cable connecting Lithuania and Sweden were almost completely severed at the same time. The cable was fully repaired by the end of November.
However, by the end of December last year, the C-Lion1 telecommunications cable was again severed. According to navigation data, a Chinese cargo ship named “Yi Peng 3” passed through the area at that time.
On October 7-8, 2023, a natural gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea and two telecommunications cables connecting Estonia with Finland and Sweden were damaged. Finnish police identified the main suspect as a cargo ship flying the flag of Hong Kong, the “Newnew Polar Bear.”
It is believed that the ship’s anchor dragged across the Baltic Sea seabed, cutting the cables and gas pipeline. The Finnish Navy recovered a heavy anchor weighing 6 tons a few meters from the damaged location, and when the “Newnew Polar Bear” later docked in the Russian port of St. Petersburg, one anchor was found missing.
Some incidents in the Baltic Sea have been deemed accidental, while others are still under investigation, with no charges brought yet.
In response to the recent series of cable damage incidents, the European Commission stated on Friday (21st) that they will propose strengthening monitoring of undersea cables and establishing a fleet for emergency repairs.
This plan will cover the entire Europe, including a Baltic Sea center, with the goal of detecting the situation in the region before accidents occur.
(The article is based on Reuters’ report)