European nations are accusing Russia of orchestrating a massive sabotage strike on Ukraine’s Western allies after two underwater fiber-optic cables were cut in the Baltic Sea.
The 135-mile-long internet cable connecting Sweden to Lithuania was cut on Sunday, with the 700-mile-long telecommunications cable linking Finland to Germany sabotaged the following day, according to government officials.
The incidents triggered a full-blown international investigation in the Baltic Sea, with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Britain all appearing to point the finger at Russia.
“Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against NATO and EU countries are also unprecedented in their variety and scale, creating significant security risks,” the ministers said in a joint statement.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius went a step further and directly called the incident a blatant act of sabotage.
“No one believes that these cables were cut accidentally,” Pistorius told reporters Tuesday. “We also have to assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage.”
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen echoed Pistorius’ concerns, suggesting Russia conducted the telecommunications attack as a direct result of the war in Ukraine.
The affected nations are all NATO and European Union members, the latter of which has committed $168 billion in defense aid to Ukraine.
Moscow has vehemently denied being behind the attack, claiming the reports were fake in order to damage Russia’s reputation and interests.
A preliminary investigation led by the affected countries found that the cables were likely cut within 24-hours in Swedish economic waters, two people familiar with probe told Wall the Street Journal.
The damage was described as being a clear result of human interference rather than cut by a natural phenomena, the sources claimed.
Cinia, which oversees the German-Finnish cable known as C-Lion1, and Telia Lietuva, which operates the Swedish-Lithuania line known as Arelion, said the impact of the cuts have been minimized as they work with officials to investigate the damage.
Cinia noted that it would take up to 15 days to repair the cut cables.
Sweden and Finland, who are leading the investigation, notably gave up years-long policy of military neutrality to join NATO following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, fearing that Moscow would continue to pursue more territory in Eastern Europe.
The two nations have recently issued new warnings for their citizens to be ready for the possibility of war over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
With Post wires
