Sabotage Fears After Two Undersea Cables Severed in Baltic Sea
Communication across two fiber optic cables running across the Baltic Sea was disrupted this past week, sparking fears they were intentionally severed by acts of sabotage....
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Facts
- Communication across two fiber optic cables running across the Baltic Sea was disrupted this past week, sparking fears they were intentionally severed by acts of sabotage.[1][2]
- The first cable to go down — a 135-mile (218 km) internet link between Lithuania and the Swedish island of Gotland — went offline at roughly 0800 GMT on Sunday, according to a Lithuanian subsidiary of Sweden's Telia Company.[2][3]
- The second cable — a 745-mile (1,200 km) line between Finland's capital of Helsinki to the German port city of Rostock — was disrupted around 0200 GMT on Monday, the Finnish state-controlled cyber security and telecoms company Cinia said.[4][5]
- The foreign ministers of Germany and Finland also issued a joint statement in which they said they were 'deeply concerned,' and that investigations were underway.[6]
- The statement did not directly blame Russia but stated that 'Russia's war of aggression' as well as 'hybrid warfare by malicious actors' were a threat to European security.[6][7]
- This follows multiple reports earlier this year that cited research and intelligence sources suggesting that Russia has developed a dedicated military unit that's capable of carrying out acts of sabotage on communications infrastructure. This also follows the Nord Stream pipeline explosions of 2022 — incidents that Russia has blamed on the US while, meanwhile, Western governments have closed investigations with no clear consensus on responsibility.[8][9][10]
Sources: [1]Dw.Com, [2]Guardian, [3]The Times, [4]Reuters, [5]POLITICO, [6]German Federal Foreign Office, [7]Euronews, [8]Verity, [9]CNN (a) and [10]CNN (b).
Narratives
- Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Mobile Europe and The Sun. Reports from last year showed the presence of Russian spy ships in Nordic waters, the US has noted increased Russian activity by undersea cables in recent weeks, while only days ago a Russian vessel had to be removed from Irish waters. With tension between Russia and Europe at a historic high, it does not take much to assume this was Putin's doing.
- Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by rt.com and TASS. The news of these incidents comes only days after Russia warned the US and the UK were considering infrastructure attacks similar to what was seen previously with Nord Stream 1 and 2. Luckily, it has been announced that the cables will be repaired in a matter of weeks.
