NATO Baltic Sentry seizes suspected sabotage ship

January 28, 2025 - The Swedish Navy has seized a vessel suspected of damaging subsea cables as part of NATO’s Baltic Sentry defence against Russian hybrid attacks on power and communications infrastructure.

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The Bulgarian owners of the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier Vezhen, claimed that the anchor was accidentally dropped in high winds, damaging a major data cable owned by Latvian company LVRTC between Sweden and Latvia.

It follows a series of incidents in the Baltic Sea in which underwater gas pipelines, power and telecoms cables have been damaged in suspected sabotage. In December 2024 the Estlink 2 power cable from Finland to Estonia was damaged by the Eagle S, part of Russia’s shadow fleet transporting sanctioned oil, as it dragged its anchor for 100km along the seabed.

At least 11 Baltic cables have been damaged in the last 12 months, and while intelligence agencies have found no evidence pointing to sabotage, sceptics suggest that many of the incidents bear the hallmarks of “deniable hybrid attacks” by Russia on key infrastructure.

Worldwide, a subsea cable is damaged on average every three days.