Swedish authorities said Friday they were investigating a damaged cable that was discovered in the Baltic Sea, the latest in a string of recent incidents of ruptured undersea cables that have heightened fears of Russian sabotage and spying in the region.
The breakage was found on a cable that runs between Germany and Finland off the island of Gotland, south of Stockholm, in the Swedish economic zone, TT reported Friday. The Coast Guard was responding to the site.
"The preliminary investigation into sabotage was opened so that the police can have access to the tools needed to clarify what happened," Swedish police said in a statement. "We are cooperating with the relevant authorities and have no further information to share at this time."
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on the social media platform X on Friday that the government takes all reports of damage to infrastructure in the Baltic Sea very seriously.
Late last month, authorities discovered damage to the undersea fiber-optic cable running between the Latvian city of Ventspils and Sweden's Gotland. A vessel belonging to a Bulgarian shipping company was seized but later released after Swedish prosecutors ruled out initial suspicions that sabotage caused the damage.