Swedish police are investigating the break of an underwater communication cable in the Baltic Sea as sabotage. The investigation is being conducted by the National Operational Department Noa.
This is reported by the Swedish publication SVT.
"The qualification of the crime at the moment is sabotage. The preliminary investigation continues and is at an early stage," state prosecutor Henrik Soderman said.
The Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3, which was being watched by NATO forces and in particular two Danish warships, came into the field of view of Sweden. The 217-meter-long cargo ship was passing close to two damaged submarine cables in the Baltic Sea, connecting Sweden and Lithuania, Finland and Germany, when the damage occurred.
Now the fleet of the Armed Forces of Sweden is heading to the cliff sites to investigate the seabed and learn more details about the incident.
- On November 18, it became known about the break of the underwater telecommunication cable between Finland and Germany. It runs alongside other important underwater infrastructure, including gas pipelines and power cables. Later, Lithuania also announced that the communication cable between their country and Sweden had been cut. Both incidents came weeks after the US revealed increased Russian military activity around major undersea cables.
- Germany also believes that these incidents are sabotage and a hybrid attack.
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