Sweden seizes ship after suspected sabotage of Baltic Sea cables

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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