Latvian authorities have searched a vessel suspected of damaging an undersea fiber-optic cable in the Baltic Sea. This is the sixth outage or instance of damage to an underwater communications line in the region in recent days, as Western allies remain on heightened alert over the risk of Russian interference.
Latvia’s State Police said the vessel was inspected overnight on Sunday in the port of Liepaja and its crew questioned, but no direct link to the incident was established. The damage to the cable in Latvia’s territorial waters off Liepaja was reported on January 2. The investigation is being conducted as part of a criminal case into “intentional damage.”
Earlier last week, Finnish special forces boarded and seized the vessel Fitburg, which is suspected of damaging two underwater communications cables between Estonia and Finland. The ship was en route from St Petersburg to Haifa and carried crew members from Russia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan.
Estonia, for its part, reported faults on two communications links with Sweden, as well as on a cable connecting the island of Hiiumaa with the mainland.
Baltic militaries, backed by Nato allies, have been placed on heightened alert following a series of incidents involving damage to communications lines, power cables and gas pipelines in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The episodes have fuelled suspicions of sabotage by Moscow as part of what is described as a hybrid campaign aimed at destabilising Europe’s allies of Kyiv, although in several cases crew error has been cited as the cause.
The latest spate of incidents followed an almost year-long period without similar reports. Regional security services linked the lull to the launch of Nato’s Baltic Sentry maritime operation, designed to protect critical infrastructure.
“After various incidents—starting with undersea cables some time ago, as well as drone intrusions into Nato airspace or breaches of aviation rules—we saw that, in response to Western or Nato reactions, Russia took steps to prevent similar cases from recurring in the future,” Kaupo Rosin, head of Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, said in a television interview late last month.
At the same time, some current and former officials have sought to play down the significance of the past week’s incidents, attributing them to poor navigation and adverse weather conditions.
Andres Vosman, a former deputy head of Estonia’s foreign intelligence service, said in an interview with Estonian television: “My firm assessment is that most of the recent incidents in the Baltic Sea were largely the result of a coincidence of factors—a much higher volume of shipping towards Russia, the poor technical condition of vessels and low crew competence, the expansion of undersea infrastructure compared with the past, and heightened public attention.”
According to some officials from the Baltic states, the combination of inexperienced captains and challenging weather conditions in the notoriously shallow Baltic Sea may have been responsible for what occurred. Others, however, argue that the frequency of cable damage is too high to be dismissed as mere coincidence.
One official added that Finland’s forceful response last week—when Fitburg was seized in a helicopter-borne operation and parts of its crew were detained or had their movements restricted—served as a useful deterrent signal to Moscow.
Last year, Finland brought charges against the captain and two crew members of the Russian shadow fleet vessel Eagle S in connection with damage to undersea power and communications cables.
A court in Helsinki, however, ruled that Finland lacked jurisdiction because the incident occurred outside its territorial waters, underscoring the difficulty of securing accountability in cases of alleged sabotage.