The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office of Lithuania has suspended the pre-trial investigation into the damage to underwater fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea connecting Lithuania and Sweden.
This was reported by LRT, citing a statement from the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office.
The damage to the cables occurred in November 2024. The investigation has now been closed because prosecutors have determined that Lithuania did not suffer any damage as the cables were damaged on the seabed in the waters of Swedenʼs economic zone.
The Prosecutor Generalʼs Office said that the conclusion was made after determining the exact locations of the incident. The case continues to be investigated in Sweden and Finland.
Cable breaks in the Baltic Sea
An underwater telecommunications cable that runs alongside other important underwater infrastructure, including gas pipelines and power cables, broke between Finland and Germany on November 18, 2024.
Later, it became known that a communication cable between Lithuania and Sweden had been severed. Both incidents occurred within weeks of the US detecting increased Russian military activity around major undersea cables.
Germany immediately declared that these incidents were sabotage and a hybrid attack. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, wrote that the crew of the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 is suspected of severing communication cables in the Baltic Sea.
On Christmas Day, December 25, the Estlink 2 submarine power cable between Finland and Estonia broke. Two ships were passing over it at the time of the incident. Finnish police suspect that the Eagle S, which was en route from Russia to Egypt, was involved.
On the morning of January 26, 2025 , a submarine fiber-optic cable belonging to the Latvian Radio Television Corporation (LVRTC) broke in the Baltic Sea. Subsequently, Norway, at the request of Latvia, arrested the Norwegian vessel Silver Dania with an all-Russian crew, which was suspected of involvement in the incident. However, the police found no evidence that could link the Silver Dania to the break and released it.
On February 8, a Russian cable was severed in Finlandʼs exclusive economic zone. In the wake of the incidents , NATO will create a new mission, "Baltic Sentinel," to patrol key areas of the Baltic Sea.
At the end of January 2025, a break in the submarine fiber-optic cable belonging to Latvian Radio (LVRTC) occurred again in the Baltic Sea, and at the end of February, between Finland and Germany, presumably as well.
Author: Veronika Dovhanyuk
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