A Timeline of Suspected Underwater Sabotage Incidents in the Baltic Sea

Feb 21 (Reuters) – The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a string of power cable, telecom link and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and the NATO military alliance has boosted its presence with frigates, aircraft and naval drones.

Several investigations are under way but no suspects have been brought to trial.

FEBRUARY 2025: FINLAND-GERMANY TELECOM CABLE

Swedish and Finnish police said on February 21 they were investigating a suspected case of sabotage of an undersea telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea, while Sweden’s coast guard deployed a vessel to the location where the damage occurred.

No suspects have so far been identified, investigators said.

Finnish operator Cinia said it had “some time” earlier detected problems on its C-Lion1 link connecting Finland and Germany and that it had eventually received confirmation that the cable was damaged even as data traffic continued to flow.

The incident marked the third time in just a few months that the C-Lion1 cable was damaged, after it was completely severed in November and December of 2024.

The European Commission said it will spend almost a billion euros to boost surveillance of cables and establish a fleet of emergency repair vessels.

JANUARY 2025: SWEDEN-LATVIA TELECOM CABLE

…