Germany and Finland ‘deeply concerned’ about severed undersea cable

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Germany and Finland have said they are “deeply concerned” about a severed undersea communications cable between the two countries, saying that it raised suspicions of possible Russian sabotage.

Cinia, the Finnish state operator of the 1,200km C-Lion1 fibre optic cable between Helsinki in Finland and Rostock in Germany, said it had been cut early on Monday morning in the Baltic Sea close to Sweden and was almost certainly the result of an “external force”.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of the two countries said: “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.”

Nato countries around the Baltic Sea have been on alert for potential sabotage of undersea infrastructure ever since the still-unexplained explosions of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany in 2022.

Last year, a gas pipeline and two data cables were cut in the Gulf of Finland by the anchor of a Chinese ship, although authorities have not said whether they believe it was an accident or done on purpose.

Separately, Swedish telecoms operator Telia said that a communications cable between Sweden and Lithuania was damaged on Sunday morning, almost 24 hours before the Finnish-German severing.

Nato and its member countries have stepped up surveillance and monitoring of tens of thousands of kilometres of cables and pipelines, especially in the North and Baltic Seas.

Elina Valtonen, Finland’s foreign minister, and her German counterpart Annalena Baerbock said: “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.”

They added that an investigation was under way. Cinia declined to say if it believed it was sabotage or an intentional act, adding that a ship’s anchor or fishing trawler were also possible causes.

European countries have recently suffered several sabotage incidents, including fires and parcel bombs, with authorities in many cases pointing the finger at Russia. Valtonen said Finland would not hesitate to attribute blame for a “hybrid act” if it established that Russia or another country was behind it.

Cinia said it should take about five to 15 days to repair the cable that linked data centres. It added that there appeared to be no sign of increased seismic activity, which could have also severed the connection.