Sweden Seizes Bulk Carrier After Suspected Baltic Sea Undersea Fiber Cable Sabotage

Following Sunday’s undersea cable incident, in which a bulk carrier damaged a fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland, Swedish prosecutors announced that the ship had been seized and is anchored outside the Swedish port of Karlskrona.

Local newspaper Expressen confirmed that Swedish Coast Guard vessels surrounded the Malta-flagged Vezhen, now anchored at the port of Karlskrona. 

“We are directly on site with the seized ship and are taking measures as decided by the prosecutor,” said Mattias Lindholm, spokesperson for the Coast Guard. 

Mats Ljungqvist, a senior prosecutor at the National Security Unit, stated that the National Police Operations Department, the Coast Guard, and the Armed Forces are involved in the investigation into Vezhen.

The ship is suspected of damaging the data cable under the Baltic Sea belonging to Latvia’s state-run radio and TV center by dragging an anchor. 

If I may guess, PSKOV is the most suspicious one. Turned tracking off while it went over the cables in right time and part of shadow fleet. VEZHEN was there too, but is owned by Bulgarians and flagged to Malta.

Let’s see how it turns out. pic.twitter.com/43whDwwWTu

— Paulus DeMascou (@PaMaask) January 26, 2025

According to ship tracking data, Vezhen departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga last week and was transiting between Gotland and Latvia when the undersea cable was damaged. 

Latvia’s state-run radio and TV center said the “damaged” undersea fiber optic cable caused disruptions in data transmission.

Over the past 18 months, three alarming incidents have been reported in which commercial ships traveling to or from Russian ports are suspected of severing undersea cables in the Baltic region.

Accident or sabotage? The billion-dollar question.