Swedish prosecutors announced Sunday night that they have opened a preliminary investigation into suspected aggravated “sabotage” and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.

An undersea data cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early on January 26, the latest in a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea in which critical seabed energy and communications lines are believed to have been severed by ships traveling to or from Russian ports.

Sweden is investigating damage to a data cable linked to Latvia, the latest breach in the Baltic Sea region where European authorities are on high alert.

Multiple undersea cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea have been damaged in recent months, raising suspicions of sabotage.

NATO is deploying eyes in the sky and on the Baltic Sea to protect cables and pipelines that stitch together the nine countries with shores on Baltic waters

Nato countries have stepped up patrols to protect critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, which is bordered by eight countries, and other waters. A Royal Navy submarine was ordered to surface last November close to a suspected Russian spy ship which was loitering over undersea infrastructure in UK waters.

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said Sunday that her government has reached out to Sweden and other Baltic Sea allies in NATO for assistance as it investigates the cause ...

A subsea data cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early Sunday, sparking a criminal investigation, a third such incident in the Baltic Sea in the past three months.

Several undersea cables running under the surface of the Baltic Sea have been damaged in suspected sabotage incidents in recent months.

There has been a sharp rise in damage to undersea cables in the Baltic, with at least 11 incidents reported since October 2023.

A Bulgarian shipping company on Monday denied that one of its ships had intentionally damaged an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland.