Russia’s state-controlled telecoms giant announced on Saturday that its underwater cable in the Baltic Sea had been damaged due to an “external impact.”
Several undersea telecom and power cables in the Baltic have been severed in recent months, with experts and politicians accusing Russia of waging a hybrid war against Western nations supporting Ukraine.
“A Rostelecom underwater cable was damaged some time ago in the Baltic Sea as a result of external impact,” the company’s operator told RIA Novosti news agency.
“Repair work is underway,” it added, assuring that consumers had not been affected.
Earlier on Saturday, the Finnish coastguard reported it was monitoring the repairs of a Russian underwater cable being carried out by a Russian vessel in the Gulf of Finland.
According to local authorities, the undated incident occurred within Finland’s exclusive economic zone.
The series of cable disruptions prompted NATO to launch a patrol mission in January to safeguard critical underwater infrastructure.
Aircraft, frigates, submarines, and drones have been deployed under the operation, named “Baltic Sentry.”
Finnish authorities said in November 2023 that a Rostelecom cable in the Baltic had been found damaged in October, coinciding with similar damage to subsea infrastructure in Sweden and Finland.