Swedish authorities rule out sabotage in LVRTC cable incident

  • 2025-02-03
  • LETA/AFP/TBT Staff

STOCKHOLM - Swedish prosecutors on Monday ruled out sabotage in the case of a damaged underground fibre-optic cable, owned by the Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LVRTC), and said they were releasing a Bulgarian ship seized after the incident.

"The investigation concerning a cable break between Sweden and Latvia in the Baltic Sea has clarified that it is not a case of gross sabotage. Therefore, a decision has been made to lift the seizure of the ship suspected of being involved in the cable break," the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.

The authority added that a decision had been made "to lift the seizure of the ship suspected of being involved in the cable break."

"It has been established that a combination of weather conditions and deficiencies in equipment and seamanship contributed to the cable break," Senior Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said.

Ljungqvist added that "at the same time, we have been able to establish that it is the ship that was seized that caused the cable break."

Spokespeople for the Latvian State Police told LETA that the investigation into the cable incident is ongoing as part of a criminal procedure started under three sections of the Criminal Law, including for sabotage. To date, the investigation has not yielded any information that would justify the termination or reclassification of the criminal proceedings.

As reported, in the early hours of January 26, the LVRTC's subsea fiber-optic cable in the Baltic Sea was damaged in the Ventspils-Gotland section. The cable was damaged in Swedish economic waters about 130 kilometers off the Latvian coast.

The Latvian State Police opened a criminal procedure under three sections of the Criminal Law, namely, for intentional destruction and damaging of property if it has caused grave consequences, for intentional destruction and damaging of a public electronic communication network if it has led to grave consequences, and for sabotage.

The Swedish authorities arrested the Vezhen, a ship sailing under the Maltese flag and owned by Bulgarian shipping company Navigation Maritime Bulgares, on suspicions of sabotaging the fiber-optic cable in the Baltic Sea. Navigation Maritime Bulgares has denied involvement in intentional sabotage.

A series of underwater blasts ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that carried Russian gas to Europe in September 2022, the cause of which has yet to be determined.

In October 2023, an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was shut down after it was damaged by the anchor of a Chinese cargo ship.

Two telecom cables in Swedish waters were severed on November 17-18 last year.

And weeks later, on December 25, the Estlink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia were damaged.

In January, NATO announced the launch of a Baltic Sea patrol mission, Baltic Sentry, to secure critical underwater infrastructure.