Today’s news / ‘External influence’ damages Swedo-Estonian fibre cable
The Finnish coastguard is seen here in the area near a damaged gas pipeline. Two communication and network cables in the Baltic Sea have also been damaged. Photo: Lehtikuva/Reuters

‘External influence’ damages Swedo-Estonian fibre cable

‘External influence’ has caused damage to a fibre cable lying at the bottom of the sea between Sweden and Estonia, according to Sweden’s Defence Minister Pål Jonson on Swedish TV (STV) Monday. According to the Arelion company that owns the cable, the damage to the fibre cable occurred on October 7. The Swedish Navy has been on the scene investigating the damage, and has presented a preliminary report. “After the dives that have been carried out, we can see that it is due to external influence on the Swedish-Estonian cable,” Jonson said, according to SVT.
     According to the defence minister he cannot currently elaborate on what exactly lies in ‘external influence’. He said the assessment of external influence was in line with Estonia’s view of the case. On the night of October 8, damage was also discovered to the BalticConnector gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. A cable break in the Gulf of Finland at about the same time is also being investigated by Finnish and Estonian authorities. The Swedish government said in a statement on Monday that Estonia believes there is a connection between the damage to both the two cables and the gas pipeline.
     Finnish and Estonian police have identified several vessels of interest in connection with the investigation, according to SVT. /ritzau/