Guardian

Telecoms cable in Baltic Sea may have been severed, says Finnish owner

Associated Press

A data cable across Baltic Sea between Finland and Germany has broken and the cause is unknown

Mystery fault takes undersea internet cable between Germany and Finland out of service

Bloomberg

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Communication across two fiber optic cables running across the Baltic Sea were disrupted this past week, sparking fears they were intentionally severed by acts of sabotage.

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.

Reuters

"We can confirm that the internet traffic disruption was not caused by equipment failure but by physical damage to the fiber optic cable," a spokesperson for the firm said.

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.

Later in the day, the foreign ministers of Germany and Finland issued a joint statement in which they said they were "deeply concerned" and that investigations were underway.

German Federal Foreign Office

The statement did not directly blame Russia, but appeared to link it to the incident, stating that "Russia's war of aggression" as well as "hybrid warfare by malicious actors" were a threat to European security.

It follows multiple reports earlier this year — first in a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, then by CNN — that cited research and intelligence sources in stating that Russia has developed a dedicated military unit that's capable of carrying out such acts of sabotage on communications infrastructure.

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Sabotage Fears After Two Undersea Cables Severed in Baltic Sea

Germany

Finland

Russia

Sweden

Norway

While the severing of these telecommunications cables was not directly blamed on Russia, that conclusion cannot be ruled out given the recent reports that show Russia has developed the capabilities to carry out such acts of sabotage.

Two undersea cables in Baltic Sea disrupted, sparking warnings of possible ‘hybrid warfare’

Western officials have a funny way of leaking certain stories to the press before similar actions involving those specified take place. This can be interpreted as a way of sowing the seeds of who to blame in the public's minds while covering the officials' tracks.

Newsweek

Russia Issues Ominous Warning About Undersea Internet Cables

There's a 1% chance that a NATO member’s investigation will conclude that the US was involved in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline before 2025, according to the Metaculus prediction community.

Sabotage Fears After Two Undersea Cables Severed in Baltic Sea

Sabotage Fears After Two Undersea Cables Severed in Baltic Sea

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Sabotage Fears After Two Undersea Cables Severed in Baltic Sea

Sabotage Fears After Two Undersea Cables Severed in Baltic Sea

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