NATO patrol seizes supected sabotage ship
The Swedish Navy has seized a vessel suspected of damaging subsea cables as part of NATO’s Baltic Sentry defence against Russian hybrid attacks on power and communications infrastructure

Bulgarian-owned, Maltese-flagged bulk carrier Vezhen
BALTIC INFRASRUCTURE
Damage
Pipeline
Power/data cable

MAJOR INCIDENTS
Oct 2022 NordStream 1 and 2 Gas pipelines
Explosions carried out by suspected Ukrainian-linked group

Oct 2023 BalticConnector Gas pipeline, telecoms: “Accidental damage”
caused by Hong Kong-registered Newnew Polar Bear dragging anchor

Nov 2024 C-Lion 1 and BCS East-West Interlink Data and telecoms
Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 drags anchor for almost 200km

Dec 2024 Estlink 2 Power cable: Anchor of Eagle S, part of Russia’s
shadow fleet transporting oil, found on 100km drag line across power cable

Jan 2025 LVRTC Data cables: Bulgarian owners claim Vezhen dropped
anchor accidentally in high winds

At least 11 Baltic cables damaged in last 12 months. Globally, a
subsea cable is damaged on average every three days

DENMARK
SWEDEN
GERMANY
POLAND
LATVIA
LITHUANIA
ESTONIA
FINLAND
BALTIC
SEA
RUSSIA
Karlskrona
Seized vessel held
200km
125 miles

Sources: BBC, Reuters, Financial Times
Picture: Getty Images
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