The Prime Minister of Latvia, Evika Silina, confirmed that an incident involving an optical cable owned by a private company occurred in the Baltic Sea. According to LSM, the damage was discovered near Liepaja.
“I am in constant contact with crisis management services, and the police are conducting an investigation,” Silina wrote on her social media.
The head of the crisis management center, Arvis Zile, informed that the information about the damage was received on January 3 from Lithuania.
After contacting the cable owner, it was confirmed that the cable was indeed damaged, and the company is working to locate the exact site of the incident.
The causes of the incident remain unknown.
“We cannot draw conclusions about the reasons for the damage at this point. The company is conducting an internal investigation and analysis, and currently, no version is being ruled out. I can confirm that this has not affected users in Latvia,” Zile stated.
The investigation is ongoing.
The police reported that a vessel might be the culprit, which, according to information analyzed by the National Armed Forces, passed over an inactive cable and then changed course toward the active, currently damaged cable.
On Sunday evening, law enforcement, together with the coast guard, boarded the vessel located in Liepaja port. The ship and its crew are cooperating with the police.
The police have opened a criminal case regarding the intentional destruction or damage to public electronic communication networks.
The Finnish telecommunications company Elisa reported on December 31 about damage to the cable connection between Finland and Estonia in the Gulf of Finland. On the same day, Finnish authorities detained a vessel suspected of damaging underwater telecommunications infrastructure.
On January 1, Finland announced that two crew members of the vessel Fitburg, suspected of damaging the cable between Finland and Estonia on New Year's Eve, were arrested.