Sweden launches investigation into underwater cable damage in the Baltic Sea

The Swedish government has confirmed that an undersea telecoms cable connecting Estonia and Sweden has been damaged. The civil defence minister, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, stated that the cable was not completely destroyed but suffered some damage. It is believed that the cable was affected at the same time as a gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia was also damaged earlier this month. Finnish sources suspect that Russian sabotage may be the cause of these damages. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied the accusations. Finland had announced earlier that the pipeline was intentionally sabotaged. The cause of the damage remains unknown, and Swedish investigators will be collaborating with their Finnish and Estonian counterparts to determine the cause. There has been heightened vigilance in the Baltic Sea region since last year when the Nord Stream 2 undersea pipeline was attacked and rendered inoperable by explosions. The responsible party for that attack remains unknown. Sweden has raised concerns about the vulnerability of undersea data cables to sabotage. Both Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO, with Finland's accession being approved earlier this year. However, Sweden's application has been met with opposition from countries like Hungary and Turkey, and they are currently not part of the alliance.