On January 4th, a telecom cable was damaged beneath the Baltic Sea, prompting Latvian investigators to board a ship involved in the incident. The state police confirmed this action, emphasizing the situation’s seriousness amid heightened vigilance in the Baltic region. This alertness follows a series of disruptions to power cables, telecom links, and gas pipelines since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, leading NATO to increase its military presence in the area.
The damaged cable connects Sventoji in Lithuania to Liepaja in Latvia, with a distance of approximately 65 kilometers (40 miles) between the two towns. The specific cause of the damage remains unclear. Latvian police reported that the vessel and its crew were cooperating with authorities and had not been detained, as investigations continue.
Latvia’s Prime Minister, Evika Silina, stated that the incident occurred near Liepaja but reassured that it has not disrupted communications for users in Latvia. This report follows a recent event in which Finnish police seized a cargo ship suspected of sabotaging another undersea telecom cable linking Helsinki and Estonia.
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