"Nobody believes it was an accident" Two Baltic Sea cables disrupted - Berlin suspects sabotage

Following the damage to communication cables in the Baltic Sea, it is still unclear what is behind the incidents. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius assumes sabotage.

"Nobody believes that these cables were cut by mistake," said the SPD politician and defense minister on the sidelines of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels. Sabotage had to be assumed. However, there is no evidence of this so far.

Pistorius' Finnish colleague Antti Häkkänen was more reserved and did not want to make any assumptions about the possible causes of the cable damage for the time being. At the same time, he emphasized that the investigation was being conducted on the serious assumption that an external actor was involved. Häkkänen told the Finnish news agency STT that investigations were not just being carried out as in the case of a natural disaster.

The affected C-Lion1 cable between Finland and Germany runs for 1173 kilometers between Helsinki and Rostock. On Monday, the Finnish state-owned company Cinia discovered a defect in the undersea cable, which was commissioned in 2016 and acts as a kind of data highway on the seabed connecting Central Europe and data centers in Northern Europe.

Minister: "Take this threat situation very, very seriously."

The connection partly follows the same route as the Nord Stream pipelines that were destroyed two years ago. Cinia assumes that the cable broke at the bottom of the Baltic Sea and was severed by an external force, such as an anchor or a bottom trawl. Whether it was intentional or not - like many things in the case, this is still unclear.

According to the Finnish Transport and Communications Authority, the Internet was not affected by the incident. Data traffic was also not permanently disrupted. The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Foreign Office in Berlin expressed their "deep concern" after the case became known.

Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) said in Berlin: "We are taking this high threat situation very, very seriously." The cable was damaged in Swedish waters. "We are not yet involved as authorities, but we have offered help to provide support."

Cable between Gotland and Lithuania also damaged

It was also revealed that another data cable, the Arelion communication cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and Lithuania, was damaged in the depths of the Baltic Sea.

The General Prosecutor's Office in Vilnius is investigating the circumstances and gathering information about the damage to the cable that occurred on November 17. Swedish authorities have also begun investigations.

According to a spokesperson for the telecommunications company Telia, the damaged cable between Lithuania and Sweden is quite old. There have been several related failures in the past, which were usually related to shipping errors.

Critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea in the focus of NATO

However, the current incident could be more serious, as the cables between Lithuania and Sweden and between Germany and Finland cross each other. "We certainly can't rule out sabotage, as there have been warning signals before. This would not be the first time and it would be nothing new," said the designated Lithuanian head of government Gintautas Paluckas.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines a good seven months later, the critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea has been the focus of greater public and, in particular, NATO attention.

In the fall of 2023, the Balticconnector pipeline, an important energy line between Finland and Estonia, was cut, also damaging a data cable between the two EU states.

According to Finnish investigators, the pipeline was most likely destroyed by the anchor of a Chinese container ship called the "Newnew Polar Bear". It is still unclear whether the incident was an accident or deliberate sabotage.

SDA