• Latvian police say they found no evidence linking a vessel docked at Liepāja to recent damage of an underwater optical telecoms cable.
• The Baltic Sea region remains on alert after multiple infrastructure incidents, highlighting broader concerns about undersea network resilience and geopolitical tensions.
What happened: police rule out ship link
Latvian police have said that a vessel docked in the port of Liepāja is not connected with damage to an undersea optical telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea, though the broader investigation continues, authorities said on Monday.
The damaged cable, which runs between Šventoji in neighbouring Lithuania and Liepāja in Latvia, was discovered on January 2, 2026. Police examined the suspect vessel’s anchor, technical equipment and logs, questioned crew members and said the information obtained so far does not indicate involvement in the incident.
The police statement noted that the ship’s crew cooperated fully with investigators, but did not identify the vessel by name. Criminal proceedings remain open as authorities seek to determine how and why the fibre-optic link was severed.
Latvia’s Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said that the outage had not affected Latvian communications users, and that national and allied services are working together to investigate the disruption.
This development comes amid a spate of undersea cable problems across the Baltic Sea region. On December 31, 2025, Finnish police seized a cargo ship suspected of damaging a telecommunications cable between Helsinki and Estonia’s coast after its anchor was found dragging on the seabed. Two crew members were arrested and others were restricted while questioning continued.
In addition, several other subsea power and communications lines linking Estonia with Sweden and Hiiumaa island have reported faults in recent days, raising regional alarm about infrastructure vulnerability.
Why it’s important
Undersea cables carry the bulk of international telecommunications traffic, including internet, voice and financial data. Damage to these cables can disrupt services, slow traffic and require costly repairs, even when users do not immediately notice outages. The Baltic Sea region’s recent cluster of incidents has drawn attention to just how fragile this critical infrastructure can be.
The absence of evidence tying the Liepāja-docked vessel to the latest cable break could yet change as investigators gather more data, including shipping movements and seabed recordings. Without a clear cause, speculation about intentional harm, accidental anchor dragging, or even environmental factors like storms or shifting seabed terrain persists. Continued disruptions at multiple sites have compounded uncertainty about patterns or systemic issues behind these incidents.
The geopolitical context also colours perceptions. Baltic Sea states and NATO allies have raised concerns in recent years about hybrid threats to critical infrastructure amid heightened tensions with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. NATO has increased its naval and aerial presence in the area in response to various infrastructure events, including pipeline and power cable outages.
However, some experts caution against conflating unrelated mechanical failures or navigational mishaps with deliberate sabotage. Investigators in previous cases have stressed the importance of avoiding premature conclusions without firm evidence, emphasising careful forensic analysis of cable breaks and ship movements.
Given the volume of maritime traffic and the density of undersea infrastructure in the Baltic region, strong monitoring and maintenance protocols are vital. Repair and protection measures can be expensive and technically challenging, particularly in deeper or busier waters. As inquiries continue, stakeholders across government, industry and defence sectors are likely to revisit assumptions about risk, liability and preventive strategies.
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