UPD: The Swedish Prosecutor's Office has arrested the vessel on suspicion of damaging the cable. According to the country's prosecutor's website, a preliminary investigation has been launched, considering the possibility of sabotage. No further details are provided.
An underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and Sweden was damaged in the Baltic Sea, reported the agency LSM citing the Latvian State Radio and Television Center.
The underwater fiber optic cable in the Baltic Sea was damaged early Sunday morning, the center's data transmission monitoring system detected disruptions on the Ventspils-Gotland section. There is reason to believe that the cable is significantly damaged and that the damage was caused by external impact.
The head of the state police, Armands Ruks, told LTV that they are currently "investigating the causes, whether it is a physical disconnection or another type of disconnection." A criminal case has been initiated for the intentional damage to someone else's property.
"An assessment of the vessels that were nearby is being conducted. What exactly broke. And it will be important to understand what the violation is, because I don't have direct confirming information that a physical break occurred. It will take several hours to say for sure," said Ruks.
The Navy immediately dispatched a patrol vessel to inspect the vessel Michalis San, which may be involved in the damage. It was established that the vessel is heading to Russia. The Navy did not notice any suspicious activities on board or anchor damage. According to available information, the bulk carrier Michalis San sails under the Maltese flag. According to data posted on the vessel tracking site MarineTraffic, the vessel was coming from the Algerian port of Bejaia.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina reported on the social network X that Riga is cooperating with the governments of other countries to investigate the circumstances of the cable damage.
In December, three telecommunications and one electrical marine cable between Finland and Estonia were damaged. Finnish police detained the oil tanker Eagle S on suspicion of this. The Director General of Finnish Customs, Sami Rakshit, suggested that the vessel might belong to the Russian "shadow fleet." However, on January 19, journalists from Washington Post, citing sources in the US intelligence and two European countries, wrote that the damage to the underwater cables is likely not related to Russia's actions.