Lithuania and Sweden are investigating a damaged undersea telecommunications cable between the countries in the Baltic Sea.
Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Laurynas Kasciunas suspects that the incident, which occurred on Sunday, was an act of sabotage of critical infrastructure essential to national security. According to his office, a thorough investigation is necessary amid the growing threat posed by Russia.
“If the investigations will reveal that there is a country to blame for severing the telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea, the European Union and member states must put sanctions up against the destabilizing sabotage on critical infrastructure,” the minister said.
Commenting on the incident, Swedish Minister for Defence Pal Jonson said the countries need to be vigilant, noting a deteriorating security situation in the region.
The incident happened 48 hours after a subsea internet cable linking Finland and Germany was cut. According to CNN, the Finnish-German cable is at least 60 miles from the Lithuanian-Swedish cable.
Telia Lithuania and Finnish telecoms operator Cinia said the severed cables were potentially caused by an outside force following confirmation that the internet traffic disruption was not due to equipment failure.
Chinese bulker Yi Peng 3 is under investigation over suspicions that it is responsible for the cable cuts, TradeWinds reported. The ship has stopped off Denmark since Tuesday. Vessel trackers found that it sailed over the cable locations when the disruptions happened.
Two U.S. officials, however, told CNN that there was no indication that the damage to the cables was intentional and suggested that a vessel’s anchor caused the incidents.