Russian crew
New ship after cable damage in the Baltic Sea under suspicion
Updated on January 31, 2025 – 12:55 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
How could it come about the damage to the submarine between Latvia and Sweden? Investigations are underway for possible sabotage. Now a new ship is set – in distant northern Norway.
New reversal in the case of the latest cable damage in the Baltic Sea: a suspicious ship with Russian crew has been set in Norway. The “Silver Dania” is suspected of being involved in the damage of a fiber optic cable between Latvia and Sweden, the police said in Tromsø in northern Norweg.
Therefore, at the request of the Latvian authorities, she was brought to the port of the city. The police are now on board the ship to make searches and interrogations and secure traces.
According to the police, the ship is registered in Norway. It also has a Norwegian owner, but runs between the Russian cities of St. Petersburg and Murmansk. According to the information, the entire crew is also Russian.
On request, the Latvian police confirmed that it submitted a request for a legal welfare and working closely with the Norwegian law enforcement authorities. She did not want to provide any more information due to the ongoing investigation.
After a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea, damage to a data cable between the Swedish island of Gotland and the port city of Ventspils in Latvia, which is used by the Latvian radio and television center (LVRTC), occurred. The Swedish authorities then set a different ship with a Bulgarian owner and started investigations into possible severe sabotage. The owner rejected an accusation of sabotage.
The “Silver Dania” is said to have passed the cable at about the same time. A representative of her shipping company “fiscer” told the newspaper: “We didn’t do anything wrong.” Even an anchor was not ejected at the time.
So far, it has so far been unclear whether sabotage is behind the cable breaks. However, there is a suspicion that partly the so -called Russian shadow fleet could be behind it. This means tankers and other cargo ships with opaque owner structures that Russia uses to avoid sanctions as a result of his war of aggression against Ukraine, for example during oil transport.
The EU has issued sanctions against dozens of these ships, but its actual scope should be far greater. In order to better monitor cables and other critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, NATO recently launched the “Baltic Sentry” operation (German: Baltic Sea guards).