Swedish authorities have released a Bulgarian-owned vessel after ruling out sabotage as the cause of damage to an undersea fibre-optic cable linking Sweden and Latvia.
The ship, Vezhen, was detained on January 26 following the discovery of the damaged cable between Ventspils, Latvia, and the Swedish island of Gotland. The incident was among several recent undersea cable ruptures that raised concerns over potential Russian sabotage and espionage in the Baltic region.
However, Swedish prosecutors concluded that Vezhen was not involved in any deliberate act of sabotage. Senior prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist stated, “we can say with certainty that this is not a case of sabotage,” following forensic examinations, equipment analysis, and crew testimonies.
Authorities are continuing to investigate whether other factors contributed to the cable break. The Bulgarian shipping company Navibulgar denied any intentional damage, citing extreme weather conditions that may have caused the ship’s left anchor to drag along the seabed.
Concerns over cable disruptions have intensified due to past incidents linked to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet—a network of aging tankers with murky ownership used to bypass sanctions.
In a related case, Norwegian authorities recently inspected the Silver Dana, a Norwegian-owned, Russian-crewed vessel suspected of involvement in the incident. However, Norwegian police found no evidence linking the ship to the damage and later released it.
