Sweden–Latvia - Cable Damage

In the early hours of 26 January 2025, a submarine optical-fibre cable connecting Ventspils in Latvia with the Swedish island of Gotland was damaged in the Baltic Sea. The cable is owned by Latvia's state-owned communications operator LVRTC (Latvian State Radio and Television Centre), which said the affected section lay roughly 130 kilometres from its Ventspils facility at a depth of about 100 metres. LVRTC initially attributed the fault to external impact and rerouted traffic via alternative paths, limiting disruption to users while repairs were arranged; service was subsequently fully restored.

Latvian and Swedish authorities opened investigations, with Swedish prosecutors launching a preliminary probe into suspected aggravated sabotage. The Swedish Coast Guard detained the Maltese-flagged, Bulgarian-operated bulk carrier Vezhen, which had been sailing between Gotland and Latvia after departing the Russian port of Ust-Luga, and escorted it to the port of Karlskrona for examination. On 3 February 2025, senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist announced that, following forensic examination, analysis of seized equipment and witness testimony, sabotage had been ruled out, and the vessel was released. Investigators concluded the cable break resulted from a combination of harsh weather, mechanical defects in the ship's anchor system and operational shortcomings, with the vessel's anchor dragging along the seabed.

Swedish prosecutors explicitly ruled out sabotage, stating they could say with certainty that the incident was not a deliberate act. The leading and officially endorsed explanation is an accident: an anchor dragged across the seabed amid severe weather, compounded by defective anchor-securing mechanisms and crew error aboard the Vezhen. Deliberate sabotage was therefore not established. The case is notable mainly for its context, occurring during a period of heightened concern over a series of undersea cable and pipeline incidents in the Baltic Sea, some of which had been linked to vessels associated with Russia's shadow fleet. In this instance, however, investigators found no evidence of intentional damage.