Baltic States On High Alert After Fresh Undersea Cable Damage

Latvian authorities are investigating damage to an undersea telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea near the port city of Liepaja.

The damage was discovered on Friday on a telecom cable running between Sventoji in Lithuania and Liepaja in Latvia, a distance of about 65 kilometres.

As part of the investigation, Latvian police boarded a vessel on Sunday, although officials later said there was no clear evidence linking the ship to the incident.

Latvian state police said the vessel and its crew cooperated fully during the inspection. Authorities confirmed that neither the ship nor its crew were detained, and that investigative work is ongoing to understand how the damage occurred.

Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Silina said the cable was damaged close to Liepaja but stated that the incident did not affect communications services for users in Latvia.

On Monday, Latvian police said they had inspected a ship docked at Liepaja, including its anchor, onboard equipment and vessel logs.

According to the police, the information collected so far does not show a connection between the inspected ship and the damaged optical cable, though the criminal investigation remains open.

Lithuania’s National Crisis Management Centre said it was too early to determine what caused the damage.

Vessel tracking data showed that four ships crossed the cable route between Lithuania and Latvia on January 2, the day the damage was identified, while heading towards Liepaja port. Three of those vessels were still in port on Monday.

The Latvian case follows a separate incident in Finland just days earlier. On December 31, Finnish authorities seized the general cargo vessel Fitburg on suspicion of damaging an undersea telecom cable running between Finland and Estonia across the Gulf of Finland.

Finnish police said underwater inspections revealed anchor drag marks on the seabed stretching tens of kilometres before reaching the damaged section of the cable.

The Fitburg, which is registered under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines, was sailing from Russia to Israel carrying steel products at the time. The vessel was intercepted in a coordinated operation involving Finnish patrol vessels, helicopters and special forces.

Finnish authorities said one crew member had been arrested, while others were placed under travel restrictions as the investigation continues into suspected aggravated damage and interference with telecommunications.

Finnish investigators said their work is now focused on determining intent, with technical and tactical investigations being carried out with the help of several authorities.

NATO has increased its presence in the area by deploying additional naval vessels, aircraft and maritime drones.

Reference: Reuters

Source: Maritime Shipping News