The communication cable connecting Sweden and Estonia sustained damages in the Baltic Sea, Swedish Minister for Civil Defense Carl-Oskar Bohlin said on Tuesday.
"So far we are not exactly sure what damaged the cable," a Finnish news agency quoted the minister as saying at a news conference.
Bohlin indicated the details regarding the damage to the Swedish-Estonian cable are similar to damages identified last week that affected the Balticconnector gas pipeline, which connects Estonia and Finland. However, the government official noted the cable remained operational.
Swedish Defense Minister Paul Johnson told media "the government takes the situation very seriously and attaches great importance to the matter, given that it is a critical security infrastructure issue."
Estonia’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications reported that on 11 October it had received information on the declined capacity of the cable between Estonia and Sweden, pointing out that the fault site is located in Estonian waters, some 50 kilometers from the Estonian island of Hiiumaa, east of Sweden.
The cable belongs to a Swedish company, which restored the cable’s maximum capacity within a few days, avoiding any interruptions to the communications, the ministry said.
"According to preliminary data, there is no reason to link the failure of the Estonian-Swedish cable with other incidents. The cable has experienced similar minor glitches in the past."
"It remains to be seen what brought down the cable capacity. The cable owner is working on repairing it. In cooperation between Estonia, Finland and Sweden amid the restoration work, we will also investigate a plausible cause of the technical failure and whether it could be related to the faults of the Estonian-Finnish communication cable and the gas pipeline," the ministry emphasized.
On October 8, Gasgrid Finland and Elering (Finnish and Estonian gas network operators) noticed an unusual pressure drop in the offshore gas pipeline. The two countries managed to close off both its valves to stop the leak.
Experts do not rule out the theory that a storm-caught ship may have accidentally damaged the Balticconnector with its anchor in Finland’s economic zone. Insiders believe it may take several months to repair the pipeline, possibly until April 2024.
The Balticconnector is a 77 km long bi-directional natural gas pipeline between Ingå, Finland, and Paldiski, Estonia. The structure was officially launched in 2020.