Swedish authorities have “seized” a vessel – believed to be the cargo ship Vezhen – “suspected of carrying out sabotage” after a cable running between Sweden and Latvia in the Baltic Sea was damaged on the morning of January 26.

The cable runs between the Latvian town of Ventspils and Sweden’s Gotland island and belongs to the Latvian State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC). Vezhen is sailing under the flag of Malta, and its historical movements can be viewed here, showing it passing close to the relevant position, which does not necessarily prove involvement.

The region is already on high alert after two subsea cables in the Baltic owned by Finnish telco Elisa and the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 subsea power line were damaged on Christmas Day in the Gulf of Finland. The C-Lion1 cable and BCS East-West Interlink submarine cable were also hit in November last year.

As for the cable breakage over this past weekend, Swedish security forces were contacted by Latvia, which was first to grok the disturbances in the cable, and began a preliminary probe yesterday, the National Unit for Security Cases said in a statement. Senior Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said (translated from Swedish): “We are now carrying out a number of concrete investigative measures, but I cannot go into what they consist of due to the ongoing preliminary investigation.”

Latvian Prime Minister Evika Silina said the country was coordinating with its NATO allies after damage was detected in the Ventspils-Gotland section of the LVRTC fiber optic network. “We have determined that there is most likely external damage and that it is significant,” Silina told reporters (translated) after an extraordinary government meeting.

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Sweden, NATO’s newest member, already deployed three warships and a surveillance airplane earlier this month to help the EU’s efforts to prevent more subsea cable sabotage.

Over the past months, several underwater fiber optic cables in the region have suffered faults, with many suspecting sabotage by Russia’s shadow fleet [PDF]. The existence of the fleet is practical, to evade sanctions, a European Parliamentary briefing was told in December.

Its ships make use of “flags of convenience” and ownership is hidden within nested, intricate shells, all the while the vessels’ captains make use of a variety of tactics to conceal the cargo’s origins through “ship-to-ship transfers; automatic identification system blackouts; falsified positions; transmission of false data; and other deceptive or even illegal techniques.” Parliament was told the shadow fleet is being used to build up Russia’s war chest and maintain oil exports. The “aging and poorly maintained vessels” in the shadow fleet operate with “minimal regard” for rules and regulations, meaning they’re a “significant” risk in terms of environmental and maritime safety, as well as overall security.

While some suspect the damage was deliberately caused by the anchors of hostile states’ ships dragging along the seabed, others have speculated that the recent proliferation of scrapheap vessels are crewed by less than competent sailors who are dropping anchor while under way without a clue about controlling descent or clearing obstacles.

The UK Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, told British parliament on January 24 that a “Russian spy ship, used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure” was spotted on Monday last week in British waters.

The Royal Navy sent a Royal Air Force maritime patrol aircraft, along with three vessels – HMS Cattistock, HMS Tyne, and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Proteus – to shadow its every movement. The Russian vessel, Yantar, entered the UK exclusive economic zone about 45 miles (72 km) off the British coast on January 20, but later moved towards the North sea, said Healey.

He also confirmed he’d authorized a Royal Navy submarine to surface close to Yantar – strictly as a deterrent – to demonstrate it had been covertly monitored. “The ship then left UK waters without further loitering, and sailed down to the Mediterranean,” he added.

Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO’s supreme allied commander transformation, said in December that a NATO project of submarine drones specifically designed to patrol undersea cables is close to being operational. The robotic naval force, under the auspices of the Allied Maritime Command (MARCOM), will have its first elements ready to sail by the NATO summit in June 2025 so that “NATO can see and monitor daily its environment,” he said.

The US already has a naval drone arm, Task Force 59, and trials autonomous and piloted naval drones in an offshoot force, Task Force 59.1.

An investigation into December’s Finnish cable debacle is still under way. Police seized the Eagle S tanker, which they said was carrying Russian oil, last month on suspicion the vessel was behind the rupture at the Estlink 2 power line and four telecoms cables. They believe the damage was done by the vessel dragging its anchor along the seabed. Finland’s cops said earlier this month they had found an anchor in the Gulf of Finland they believe belonged to Eagle S and which they are forensically inspecting to see if it was involved in the cable ruptures on Christmas Day. ®