Sweden finds signs of damage to another cable in the Baltic Sea

Anchor marks have been found on another power cable in the Baltic Sea. This was announced by Swedish Defense Minister Carl-Oscar Bolin, reported Swedish public broadcaster SVT.

This is the Lithuanian-Swedish NordBalt interconnector with a capacity of 700 MW. According to the minister, the damage could have been caused by the Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3. It is linked to damage to electrical cables between Sweden and Lithuania, Germany and Finland in November 2024.

In December 2024, the Estonian-Finnish Estlink 2 submarine power cable failed. On suspicion of cable damage, Finland detained the Eagle S tanker under the flag of the Cook Islands, which was transporting Russian oil as part of the “shadow fleet”.

Later, Finnish police discovered traces on the bottom of the Baltic Sea that probably belong to the anchor of this tanker. The anchor itself was later found and raised from the bottom of the Gulf of Finland.

Thus, all three power cables between the Scandinavian countries and the Baltic countries were damaged. According to the Swedish minister, these incidents may be related to the disconnection of the Baltic countries from the Russian power system, which is scheduled for early February.