Sweden says second undersea cable damaged in Baltic Sea
The incident comes days after Finland and Estonia said sabotage was the likely cause of disruptions to a gas pipeline and a communications cable.
The mystery surrounding suspected sabotage of critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea deepened after Sweden said that a second underwater telecommunications cable was damaged without explanation.
Last week, Finland and Estonia, two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states, said disruptions to a gas pipeline and telecommunications cable were likely caused by sabotage, resurrecting worries about the security of Europe’s vital infrastructure.
On Tuesday, Swedish Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said that authorities have yet to determine what has caused the disruption of the cable linking the country with Estonia, which continued to function.
The cable is located in Estonian territorial waters. He said that the disruption happened around the same time as the incident on the pipeline and cable linking Finland and Estonia.
The damage came days after the first anniversary of the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines linking Germany and Russia, an attack that authorities in multiple countries say was deliberate but are still investigating. U.S. suspicions have increasingly centred on a group of Ukrainians.
The Nord Stream explosions showed the vulnerability of Europe’s critical infrastructure to physical assault at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions in a region bordering Russia. It prompted governments to take protective measures for the pipelines, power networks and natural gas terminals that keep the continent’s lights on and homes warm.
Estonian authorities said Tuesday that it wasn’t clear whether the newly disclosed disruption of the cable to Sweden was linked to the incident with the pipeline and cable linking the country with Finland.
In that incident, authorities shut the Balticconnector pipeline between Finland and Estonia after detecting a suspected leak in the 48-mile offshore section of the pipeline. A telecommunications cable linking Estonia to Finland, lying about 230 feet below the Baltic Sea, ceased transmitting data, Estonia has said. The cable is one of Estonia’s nine such connections to the surrounding countries, and its rupture won’t inflict any noticeable disruption to internet service.
Finland’s authorities have said that the damage to the gas pipeline and the cable was likely the result of “external activity,” though the incident had no impact on the country’s security of supply.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week that if the incident is proven to be a deliberate attack on NATO critical infrastructure, “it will be met by a united and determined response” from the alliance.
Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation said Tuesday it was investigating several ships that were in the area at the time of that incident, including Newnew Polar Bear and Sevmorput. Sevmorput is a Russian-owned cargo ship while Newnew Polar Bear is a container ship sailing under the Hong Kong flag and owned by a Chinese company, according to data provider Vesselfinder.
While authorities in Finland and Estonia haven’t pointed fingers at a possible culprit yet, Russian President Vladimir Putin last week dismissed speculation that Moscow was involved, calling such suggestions “rubbish.”
The Wall Street Journal
Germany opened its doors to migrants. Now it’s struggling to cope
Germany is becoming a case study of the challenges that can emerge when migration outpaces a society’s capacity to adjust.
The progressive moment in global politics is over
In country after country, many working-class voters – especially those outside the biggest cities – are signalling the same thing.