Sweden seizes ship after suspected sabotage of Baltic Sea cables.
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The cargo ship Vezhen is currently docked in Karlskrona, Sweden.
Swedish authorities have seized a ship suspected of damaging a data cable that runs under the Baltic Sea to Latvia.
The Vezhen - a Maltese-flagged ship - is now anchored in the Swedish port of Karlskrona.
Prosecutors said an initial investigation pointed to sabotage. An investigation has been opened involving the Swedish police, military and coast guard.
Images shared by Swedish media showed the ship appeared to have a damaged anchor. However, on Monday, the Bulgarian shipping company Navigation Maritime Bulgare, which includes the Vezhen in its fleet, said that one of the ship's anchors had fallen to the seabed due to strong winds and that there was no malicious intent.
On Sunday, the Latvian military said that three ships had been spotted in the area where the damage occurred.
Less than a month ago, NATO launched a new mission in the Baltic Sea in response to repeated attacks on undersea power and telecommunications cables - some of which have been blamed on Russia.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said her country was working closely with Sweden and NATO in responding to the incident.
The cable is owned by Latvian state broadcaster LVRTC, which said in a statement that there had been "interruptions to data transmission services" but that end users would be largely unaffected. Earlier this month, NATO launched its new Baltic Sentry mission, after several cables under the Baltic Sea were damaged or cut in 2024.
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NATO chief Mark Rutte said the mission would include more patrol aircraft, warships and drones.
While Russia has not been directly named as responsible for the cable damage, Rutte said NATO would increase its monitoring of Moscow's "ghost fleet" – ships with no clear owner used to transport embargoed oil products.
Rutte said there was "reason to be seriously concerned" about the damage to infrastructure, adding that NATO would respond decisively to future incidents, boarding more suspicious vessels and, if necessary, capturing them.
Finnish police said late last year that they were investigating whether a Russian ship was involved in the sabotage of an electrical cable connecting Finland and Estonia.
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