Undersea Communications Cable Damaged In Baltic Sea

• 18.11.2024, 19:31

It runs between Germany and Finland.

An underwater communications cable between Germany and Finland has been damaged in the Baltic Sea, Associated Press reports, citing operator Cinia.

A “defect” was found in the C-Lion1 cable, which is about 1,200 km long and runs from Helsinki to the German port city of Rostock, the operator said. Cinia specified that a repair ship is preparing to leave for the damaged area, and that repairs take an average of 5-15 days.

The transport and communications agency Traficom confirmed to Yle that the cable was damaged, and that the reasons “could be different” — for example, they could be related to the weather or ships. Traficom emphasized that telecommunications connections have different routes, and if one is damaged, complications may arise for others, but ordinary citizens will not notice them.

The Finnish Security and Intelligence Service noted that it was too early to talk about the causes of the defect, adding that about 200 underwater cable breaks occur worldwide every year.

In September, CNN reported, citing two unnamed American officials, that the United States was recording an increase in Russian military activity around key underwater cables. Washington believes that Moscow is more likely to “conduct potential sabotage operations aimed at disabling a critical part of the world's communications infrastructure”, the channel's sources said.