2024 Baltic Sea submarine cable disruptions
| Date | 18 November 2024 |
|---|---|
| Time | 10:00 (EET) |
| Location | Baltic Sea |
| Cause | Under investigation |
The 2024 Baltic Sea submarine cable disruptions refer to the disruption of two submarine telecommunication cables— the BCS East-West Interlink and C-Lion1 cables— at roughly the same time at the same location in the Baltic Sea. The simultaneous disruption of both cables in the same area prompted accusations from European government officials and NATO member nations of hybrid warfare and sabotage as the cause of the damage.
Background
[edit]The BCS East-West Interlink is a 218 km long submarine data communication cable that runs through the Baltic Sea, built in 1997 by Alcatel and owned by Arelion. It connects Sventoji in Lithuania to Katthammarsvik on the east coast of the Swedish island of Gotland.[1] The C-Lion1 is a submarine communications cable between Finland and Germany. The cable is owned and operated by the Finnish telecommunications and IT services company Cinia Oy, and is the first direct communications cable between Finland and Central Europe following its start of operations in May 2016.[2][3]
Disruptions
[edit]On Monday, 18 November 2024,[4] the telecommunications company Telia Lithuania announced that the BCS East-West Interlink submarine cable between Lithuania and Sweden had been "cut" on Sunday morning at around 10 a.m. local time.[5] At around the same time, the submarine cable C-Lion1 for data communication between Finland and Germany was cut in the same region of the Baltic Sea. As a result, both of their telecom services were disrupted.[6][7] The C-Lion1 fault was discovered off the coast of the Swedish island of Öland.[8] The two faults were detected about 60–65 miles apart from each other.[9]
An Arelion spokesperson described the damage to the BCS East-West Interlink cable as "...not a partial damage. It’s full damage”.[10] At the time of the incident, the cable provided about 1/3rd of the internet capacity of Lithuania.[9]
According to C-Lion1 operator Cinia Oy, the cable was interrupted by an unknown outside physical force subsea.[11] Cinia chief executive Ari-Jussi Knaapila stated that the company was in the process of conducting physical inspections at the site of the fault.[9][12][13]
On 19 November the Royal Danish Navy boarded the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 in the Baltic Sea after it was suspected to be involved in the sabotage.[14] The detention of the Chinese vessel was the first enforcement action under the Convention for the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables since the Transatlantic cables incident of 1959.[15]
Reactions
[edit]The Foreign Ministers of Germany and Finland issued a joint statement expressing "deep concern" over the C-Lion1 cable's disruption, and expressed suspicion over possible hybrid warfare conducted by Russia, causing the disruptions in the midst of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and elevated tension against NATO member states.[10][16]
German Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called the incident an act of sabotage.[4] He further stated that "no one" believed that the cables were cut accidentally.[10]
The Swedish Prosecution Authority opened an investigation into "sabotage" regarding the disruptions.[10]
The Lithuanian Armed Forces stated that NATO members were in correspondence with one another to determine the cause of the disruptions.[10] The Lithuanian Naval Force announced increased surveillance of its waters in response to the damage and would discuss further measures with Lithuania its allies.[4]
See also
[edit]- 2008 submarine cable disruption
- 2011 submarine cable disruption
- Nord Stream pipelines sabotage
- Balticconnector § 2023 damage incident – a natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, cut by ship's anchor a year earlier
References
[edit]- ^ "Submarine Cable Map". www.submarinecablemap.com. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Network projects | Cinia". www.cinia.fi. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Submarine Data Cable to Link Germany and Finland". eco. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ a b c Bryant, Miranda (19 November 2024). "We assume damage to Baltic Sea cables was sabotage, German minister says". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ Cook, Ellie; Feng, John (19 November 2024). ""NATO lake" sabotage feared as two undersea cables damaged in 24 hours". Newsweek. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ Bryant, Miranda (19 November 2024). "We assume damage to Baltic Sea cables was sabotage, German minister says". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Germany suspects sabotage over severed undersea cables in Baltic". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Germany suspects sabotage behind severed undersea cables". BBC. 19 November 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ a b c Murphy, Paul; Kottasová, Ivana; Stockwell, Billy (18 November 2024). "Two undersea cables in Baltic Sea disrupted, sparking warnings of possible 'hybrid warfare'". CNN. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Germany says 'sabotage' presumed in damaged Baltic Sea telecom cables". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Sabotage suspected after Baltic Sea telecoms cable C-Lion1 suddenly stops working". Sky News. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ "A fault in the Cinia C-Lion1 submarine cable between Finland and Germany". www.cinia.fi. 18 November 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ Astier, Henri (18 November 2024). "'Hybrid warfare' warning after undersea cable cut between Germany and Finland". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 19 November 2024.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Pancevski, Bojan (20 November 2024). "Chinese-Registered Ship Is Held in Baltic Sea Sabotage Investigation". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
- ^ "Joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of Finland and Germany on the severed undersea cable in the Baltic Sea". German Federal Foreign Office. Retrieved 20 November 2024.