Russia’s state-controlled telecom giant Rostelecom announced on Feb. 8 that one of its underwater cables in the Baltic Sea had been damaged due to an "external impact."
The company did not specify the cause of the damage but confirmed that repair work was underway. Rostelecom said that the incident did not affect consumers, according to AFP.
The damage comes amid a series of recent disruptions to undersea telecom and power cables in the Baltic Sea. Western experts and officials have accused Russia of engaging in hybrid warfare against countries supporting Ukraine.
On Jan. 30, Norwegian authorities detained the Silver Dania vessel with a Russian crew on suspicion of damaging an undersea fiber-optic cable linking Latvia and Sweden.
NATO has responded by increasing patrols to safeguard critical underwater infrastructure.
On the same day, Finland's coast guard reported that a Russian vessel was conducting repairs on a damaged underwater cable in the Gulf of Finland. Finnish authorities confirmed that the incident took place within Finland’s exclusive economic zone but did not provide details on how or when the damage occurred.
In response to growing concerns over subsea security, NATO launched a patrol mission in January to protect vital infrastructure in the region. The operation, called "Baltic Sentry," involves aircraft, frigates, submarines, and drones monitoring the area for potential threats.
Similar incidents have been reported in the past when Finnish authorities discovered damage to another Rostelecom cable in the Baltic Sea. That incident coincided with disruptions to underwater infrastructure in both Sweden and Finland, further raising suspicions of deliberate sabotage.
Mika Aaltola
