Sweden has contributed three ships and an aircraft to protect undersea cables in the Baltic Sea

Sweden will send naval forces to the Baltic Sea to protect undersea cable infrastructure from sabotage. According to The Register, it was decided to take such measures after the recent damage to cables in the Baltic waters. The country will allocate three military vessels and a reconnaissance aircraft for patrolling.

This is Sweden’s first such initiative after joining NATO. However, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is confident that it is unlikely to be the last. In his recent speech, he touched on the damage to the Finnish Elisa submarine cables in the Baltic Sea, as well as the Finnish-Estonian power cable Estlink 2 at the end of December 2024. Telecom cables have been restored, and Estlink 2 appears to be out of service for several months.

Experts say it is highly likely that the cables were damaged by the oil tanker Eagle S. According to Kristersson, there is evidence that it was the Eagle S that severed the cables, and a Swedish vessel assisting in the investigation found the anchor that likely caused the damage. The Eagle S itself was seized by Finnish authorities a few days after the cables were cut and is still parked in Finland. The actions of Eagle S can hardly be called unintentional – it is unlikely that an anchor was dragged with a 300-meter chain for more than 100 km, without realizing that this could cause damage.

Image source: Daniel S/unsplash.com

Damage to Finnish infrastructure at the end of December is not the first incident in recent months. Thus, in November, fiber optic lines in the Baltic between Germany and Finland were damaged. A Chinese ship is suspected of causing the damage. According to the European investigation, the captain deliberately damaged the C-Lion1 cable. The adjacent BCS East-West Interlink cable was damaged on the same day – the cable has an intersection with C-Lion1. Now, as RBC reports, there is evidence that the same ship damaged a third cable. Taiwan accused mainland China of similar sabotage.