Internet cables connecting Sweden and Finland have been severed, and the authorities are treating the incident as an act of sabotage.
Finland’s Communications Minister Lulu Ranne wrote on X: “We take the situation seriously.”
The damage was discovered this morning and must have occurred on land in Finland.
Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter said the cable was damaged in two separate places on Finnish territory, citing the Swedish Telecommunications Authority, PTS.
The Swedish Post and Telecommunications Authority (PTS), the Norwegian Agency for Community Safety and Preparedness (MSB), the Swedish Armed Forces, and the government must have been informed of the incident.
GlobalConnect, which owns the cables, said cables had been severed at two points on two different lines, impacting over 6,000 customers and 100 businesses in Finland.
A subsequent statement added: “The first fibre break has been fixed during the night and we are currently fixing the second. The majority of those who lost internet have got it back.
“A few customers remain, but we try to solve that during the day.”
Swedish Armed Forces and Civil Contingencies Agency have been informed.
Speaking last month, Ms Ranne said: “We are experiencing disruptions, acts of sabotage, various types of damage, and instrumentalised migration, among other things.
“This creates a general sense of uncertainty and vagueness about what is true and what is not.
“However, based on the information from both civilian and military intelligence, we have clear indications pointing to Russia.”
Also, last month, suspicion fell on the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 after two undersea cables in the Baltic, one running from Finland to Germany and the other from Lithuania to Sweden, were damaged.
The latest damage was also reported by Russian state news agency Tass.
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