It is the second time in a year that Baltic Sea infrastructure, including communications cables and energy pipelines such as Nord Stream, has been damaged, raising concerns about security and sabotage.
Another communications cable in the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and the Swedish island of Gotland was damaged on Sunday morning, telecommunications company Telia Lietva, a branch of Sweden’s Telia, reported on Monday.
Last October, gas pipelines and communication cables on the Baltic Connector between Finland and Estonia were damaged. On the same night, a communications cable connecting Estonia and Sweden was also damaged, along with one of Russia’s communications cables in the Gulf of Finland. Since then, the investigation has focused on the Chinese ship New New Polar Bear, which was in the area during one of the incidents.
Hakkanen said such attacks on critical infrastructure in international waters are “somewhat new” and difficult to prevent.
“These undersea cables, when they’re under international waters, on the ocean floor, are very likely the most difficult part of our society to protect. That’s why this is so difficult for Western countries.” he said.
