This marks the second time in a yr that Baltic Sea infrastructure — which incorporates communications cables and power pipelines reminiscent of Nord Stream — has been broken, elevating issues over safety and sabotage.
One other telecom cable within the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Sweden’s Gotland Island was broken Sunday morning, telecom firm Telia Lietuva, a department of Sweden’s Telia, reported Monday.
In October final yr, the Balticconnector gasoline pipeline and a telecom cable connecting Finland and Estonia have been broken. A telecom cable linking Estonia to Sweden was additionally broken on the identical evening, together with one in every of Russia’s telecos cables within the Gulf of Finland. Investigations have since centered on a Chinese language vessel, the Newnew Polar Bear, which was within the space throughout one of many incidents.
Häkkänen described such assaults on vital infrastructure in worldwide waters as “form of a brand new factor,” and stated they’re troublesome to forestall.
“These undersea cables are fairly probably probably the most troublesome components of our societies to guard when they’re underneath worldwide waters, on the seabed. In order that’s why that is so troublesome for Western nations,” he stated.