RIGA, Latvia (AP) 鈥 Swedish prosecutors announced Sunday night that they have opened a preliminary investigation into suspected aggravated 鈥渟abotage鈥 and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.
鈥淪everal authorities, including the 春色直播 Police Operations Department, the Coast Guard and the Armed Forces, are involved in the investigation,鈥 said Mats Ljungqvist, senior prosecutor at the 春色直播 Security Unit, according to a press release.
The Swedish Coast Guard confirmed to the newspaper Expressen that they were on site near the vessel which the paper identified as the Malta-flagged Vezhen, at anchor near the port of Karlskrona.
鈥淲e are directly on site with the seized ship and are taking measures as decided by the prosecutor,鈥 said Mattias Lindholm, spokesperson for the Coast Guard.
According to data from Vesselfinder, the vessel departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga several days earlier and was navigating between Gotland and Latvia at the time the damage was suspected of having occurred.
Latvia's state-run radio and TV center said Sunday that it recorded disruptions in data transmission on the cable running from the town of Ventspils to the Swedish island of Gotland, and concluded there was a rupture.
The media organization said it was able to operate using other data transmission routes, while it was taking steps to have the cable repaired.
鈥淎t the moment, there is reason to believe that the cable is significantly damaged and that the damage is caused by external influences,鈥 Vineta Sprugaine, head of corporate communications at LVRTC, was quoted as saying by the LSM state broadcaster.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Sili艈a wrote on X that her government was 鈥渨orking together with our Swedish Allies and NATO on investigating the incident, including to patrolling the area, as well as inspecting the vessels that were in the area.鈥
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X that at least one cable belonging to a 鈥淟atvian entity鈥 was believed to have been damaged and that he has been 鈥渋n close contact鈥 with Sili艈a during the day Sunday.
Sunday's rupture follows a string of incidents that have heightened fears of Russian sabotage and spying in the strategic region. There have been previous incidents reported of running on the Baltic sea bed, allegedly linked to 鈥 hundreds of aging tankers of uncertain ownership that are dodging sanctions and keeping oil revenue coming into the country.
Earlier this month, which included frigates, maritime patrol aircraft and a fleet of naval drones to provide 鈥渆nhanced surveillance and deterrence鈥 in the Baltic Sea which the transatlantic alliance says is to protect undersea cables and pipelines.
