Baltic nations have launched a probe into the severing of two fibre-optic telecommunication cables in the Baltic on Sunday and Monday, one linking Finland and Germany, the other Sweden to Lithuania. While careful to avoid directly accusing Russia of responsibility, European officials claim the disruption of services was likely caused by an act of sabotage.
In a blunt statement, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain cited the “unprecedented” variety and scale of Moscow’s “escalating hybrid activities against NATO and EU countries”, noting they were “creating significant security risks.”
Speaking in Warsaw, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski threatened that if Russia “does not stop committing acts of sabotage in Europe, Warsaw will close the rest of its consulates in Poland”. In Brussels, Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius made it clear that no one believed “these cables were cut accidentally”, the overwhelming assumption being that “it was sabotage”.
European Commission Vice President Josep Borrell was more cautious, telling a press conference in Brussels that it was too early to point fingers. He claimed it would be irresponsible on his part to attribute this “incident or accident …to anyone.”
Moscow has repeatedly denied sabotaging European infrastructure, insisting that such claims are fabrications by Western propaganda designed to damage Russian interests.
Sweden’s Prosecution Authority has announced a preliminary criminal investigation into the possible sabotage of the cables, which pass through the country’s exclusive economic zone in the Baltic Sea.
Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told Reuters news agency that the country’s armed forces and coastguard had detected shipping movements that coincided with the disruption of services by the two telecom cable links.
“We, of course, take this very seriously against the background of the serious security situation,” he noted.
According to Sweden’s armed forces, the investigation will be assisted by Swedish navy ships specially equipped with remotely operated vehicles for undersea operations. Meanwhile, a NATO official said the alliance’s Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure is working closely with allies to help establish the facts. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation announced it would be working in association with the Swedish-led investigations. Lithuania’s armed forces have boosted surveillance of its waters.
The companies that own the two affected cables both said it was unclear as yet as to what had caused the outages. Arelion, the company responsible for the cable linking Lithuania and Sweden, has filed a police report. Cinia, which owns the cable linking Finland and Germany, said it would not be possible to say what caused the breach until repairs had started.
The Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans declared that while there was no specific information about who was to blame, “we see increasing activity of Russia on our seas, aimed at espionage and possibly even sabotage of our vital infrastructure.”
The blasts that destroyed Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022, seven months after Russia’s Ukraine invasion, galvanised Europe’s switch to other energy suppliers. Although some Western officials initially blamed Moscow – a claim described as “idiotic” by the Kremlin – U.S. and German media did speculate that pro-Ukrainian actors may have played a role.
