Finland, Germany on Baltic Sea cables damage: malicious actors engage in hybrid warfare

Germany and Finland are deeply concerned about the failure of the data cable that connects the two countries and stress the need to protect critical infrastructure.

That's according to a joint statement by the foreign ministers of Germany and Finland regarding the damage inflicted on the undersea cable in the Baltic Sea, reports Ukrinform.

"We are deeply concerned about the severed undersea cable connecting Finland and Germany in the Baltic Sea. The fact that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of intentional damage speaks volumes about the volatility of our times. A thorough investigation is underway. Our European security is not only under threat from Russia‘s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid warfare by malicious actors. Safeguarding our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies," the statement said.

On the same day, the head of the German Defense Ministry, Boris Pistorius, also said it was likely an act of sabotage, adding he did not believe in an accident. He stressed that not one cable was damaged, but two – between Helsinki and Rostock and between Sweden and Lithuania.

"It's a very clear sign that something is going on ... We have to assume it's sabotage," Pistorius said, acknowledging that there was no evidence to point to any particular party, but his statement suggested that the main suspicion was aimed at Russia, which is waging a hybrid war against Europe.

Earlier, media reports said two communication cables running along the Baltic Sea bed between Finland and Germany and between Sweden and Lithuania sustained damage. On Sunday, communication via the BCS East-West Interlink cable, which connects Lithuania with the Swedish island of Gotland, was severed. The following day, the Finnish state-owned company Cinia announced that a defect had been discovered in the C-Lion1 submarine data cable between Finland and Germany, causing communication interruptions

The 1,173km-long C-Lion1 connects Helsinki and Rostock in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The cable was commissioned in the spring of 2016 and is the only submarine data cable that runs directly from Finland to mainland Europe.

The photo is illustrative