By Johan Ahlander and Anna Ringstrom
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish authorities boarded a Maltese-flagged ship seized in connection with the latest breach of cables running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to begin an investigation into the matter, the country’s security police said on Monday.
“We can confirm that persons from Swedish authorities have been on board the vessel to carry out investigative measures,” Swedish Security Services spokesperson Johan Wikstrom said.
He declined to comment further on the investigation.
The undersea cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early on Sunday in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone, likely as a result of external influence, Latvia said. That prompted NATO to deploy patrol ships to the area and triggered a sabotage investigation by Swedish authorities.
A Swedish prosecutor ordered the seizing of a ship as part of the investigation.
MarineTraffic data showed that a coastguard vessel escorted the bulk carrier Vezhen to Swedish waters on Sunday where it later anchored. The Vezhen, which Bulgarian shipping company Navigation Maritime Bulgare listed among its fleet, passed the fibre optic cable at 0045 GMT on Sunday.
The head of the Bulgarian company, Captain Aleksandar Kalchev, said the Vezhen might have struck the Baltic undersea cable that was damaged on Sunday. He said one of the ship’s anchors dropped to the seabed in high winds and that there was no malicious intent.
“They (the crew) have been instructed to assist authorities and the situation never escalated and it is calm at the moment,” he told Reuters, adding the crew had been initially held at gunpoint.
A spokesperson from Sweden’s Meteorological and Hydrological Institute said there were winds of about 8-10 metres per second outside Gotland in the early hours of Sunday.
“That’s not very strong wind. It’s well below the 14 metres per second that is the threshold for a gale warning,” the spokesperson told Reuters, adding that waves were not very high either.
Television footage from Sweden’s TV4 showed the Vezhen anchored some 10 km (6 miles) south of the naval base in Karlskrona, in southern Sweden. Images showed that it appeared to have a damaged anchor.
A Swedish coast guard spokesperson said the seized ship is anchored south of Aspo island near Karlskrona, and that coast guard staff have been onboard the ship investigating since Sunday evening.
The Latvian navy said on Sunday that three ships were subject to investigation.
NATO said last week it would deploy frigates, patrol aircraft and naval drones in the Baltic Sea to help protect critical infrastructure and reserved the right to take action against ships suspected of posing a security threat.
Finnish police last month seized a tanker carrying Russian oil and said they suspected the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed.
“I don’t believe in coincidences when it comes to frequent cases of damage to underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea,” Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a post on social media X after the latest cable rupture.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Anna Ringstrom in Stockholm, Georgi Slavov in Sofia, and Edward McAllister in Athens; additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo; writing by Niklas Pollard; editing by Bernadette Baum and Sharon Singleton, Kirsten Donovan)
