Moscow: Two undersea internet cables in the Baltic Sea have been suddenly disrupted according to local telecommunications companies amid fresh warnings of possible Russian interference with global undersea infrastructure.
A communications cable between Lithuania and Sweden was cut on Sunday morning at around 10 am local time, various media reports said.
Telia Lithuania spokesperson Audrius Stasiulaitis told that the company’s monitoring systems detected the disruption in internet traffic and determined it was likely due to physical damage to the cable.
“We can confirm that the internet traffic disruption was not caused by equipment failure but by physical damage to the fiber optic cable,” he said.
Cinia, the state-controlled Finnish company operating the link, confirmed that another cable connecting Finland and Germany was also disrupted. The C-Lion cable, which spans nearly 1,200 kilometers — 730 miles, is the only direct link of its kind between Finland and Central Europe, running alongside crucial infrastructure such as gas pipelines and power cables.
The incidents occurred as Sweden and Finland, two of the affected countries, issued updated survival guidance for their citizens in the event of war. Millions of households in the Nordic nations will receive booklets outlining how to prepare for military conflicts, communication disruptions, and power outages.
Both countries became NATO members in the past two years, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Germany Responds
Germany has said that it must assume the damage to two undersea fiber-optic communication cables in the Baltic Sea since Sunday was an act of sabotage.
“No one believes that the cables were accidentally damaged. I also don’t want to believe that the ships’ anchors caused the damage by accident,” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said in Brussels.
“We have to assume, without certain information, that the damage is caused by sabotage.” he added.
On Monday, the Finnish and German foreign ministers issued a joint statement expressing their “deep concern” over the severed undersea cable between Finland and Germany, announcing that a “thorough investigation” was underway.They were “deeply concerned” about the severed C-Lion cable, and raised the possibility of “hybrid warfare.” “The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times,” said Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen and her German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock.
Restoration Underway
After the disruptions, Arelion, the operator of the Lithuania-Sweden cable, confirmed it is in communication with Swedish military and civilian authorities. A ship has been sent to repair the C-Lion cable, but the process could take several weeks due to weather conditions.
Lithuanian State Media reported that the Lithuania-Sweden cable handles about a third of Lithuania’s internet capacity, and connectivity has since been restored following the interruption.
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