Sweden is investigating a possible breach of an undersea cable off the country’s southwestern coast in the Baltic Sea, the coastguard said on Friday, in an area where multiple seabed cables have been damaged in recent months.
The Baltic Sea region is on alert and the NATO alliance has boosted its presence after a series of power cable, telecom and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Most were caused by civilian ships dragging their anchors.
“We have received information about a suspected cable breach and the prosecution service has chosen to start a preliminary investigation,” a coastguard spokesperson told Reuters.
A coastguard vessel has been sent to the scene off the island of Gotland, the spokesperson added.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the government was being briefed and that damage to any undersea infrastructure was particularly concerning amid the current security situation.
It was not immediately clear which type of cable was involved or when the possible damage had taken place.
The coastguard declined to comment further.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Simon Johnson, Essi Lehto in Helsinki and Louise Breusch Rasmussen in Copenhagen; editing by Terje Solsvik and Helen Popper)
Photograph: Estonian naval ships sail in the Baltic Sea on Jan. 9, 2025, as part of stepped-up NATO patrols in the region following suspected sabotage of undersea cables. (AP Photo/Hendrik Osula, File)
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