A second telecommunications cable damaged in the Baltic Sea, Germany denounces “sabotage”

The German Minister of Defense, Boris Pistorius, estimated on Tuesday November 19 that a «sabotage» was certainly at the origin of the damage observed on two telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea, between Finland and Germany on the one hand, and Sweden and Lithuania on the other. The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) “opened an investigation into the rupture of a submarine cable” et “trying to establish what happened during the incident”he said in a press release.

“No one believes that these cables were cut by accident (…) We must assume (…) that this is sabotage”Pistorius said, on the sidelines of a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels. “I do not believe in the versions of (boat) anchors which would have accidentally caused damage to these cables”added the German minister.

The submarine cable «Arelion», which connects the Swedish island of Gotland to Lithuania, has been damaged since Sunday morning, and internet traffic has been redirected to other international connections, explained Audrius Stasiulaitis, spokesperson for the Lithuanian subsidiary of the Swedish operator Telia. “We can confirm that the interruption of internet traffic was not caused by an equipment fault but by material damage to the fiber optic cable”he detailed, specifying that customers were not affected.

Regular incidents

The German and Finnish governments announced on Monday an investigation into the causes of the break in an underwater fiber optic cable between Helsinki and Rostock, a port in northern Germany. In a joint statement, they mentioned the “hybrid warfare” and the Russian threat, saying “deeply concerned”. On Monday evening, Lithuanian television LRT claimed, citing Swedish telecommunications operator Telia, that a telecommunications cable between Sweden and Lithuania had been damaged on Sunday.

Several incidents have taken place in recent months in the Baltic area, a maritime zone shared by the Nordic and Baltic countries, Poland and Germany, which are concerned about threats of destabilization attributed to Moscow. Faced with the increase in these attacks, former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö called for the establishment of an intelligence cooperation service within the European Union, in a report submitted to the Commission at the end of October.

Finland has also stepped up monitoring of incidents in the Baltic Sea since the outbreak of war between neighboring Russia and Ukraine. In October 2023, an underwater gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia had to be closed after damage caused by an anchor from a Chinese cargo ship. These incidents also recall the sabotage in September 2022 of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which has not yet been clarified. In August, the Wall Street Journal implicated the former Ukrainian chief of staff, an accusation described as “absolute nonsense” at Kiev.

Tensions in the Baltic Sea have increased since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Moscow sees the increased NATO presence near its borders as a provocation and a threat to its security. With the accession of Sweden, after that of Finland, all the states bordering the Baltic Sea, with the exception of Russia, are now members of the Atlantic Alliance.