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Damage was detected Monday to the C-Lion1 cable that runs nearly
1.200 kilometers (750 miles) from the Finnish capital, Helsinki,
to the German port city of Rostock. Another cable between
Lithuania and Sweden was also damaged.
Speaking in Brussels, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius
said that Russia poses not just a military but also a hybrid
threat, and that Europe needs to take a broad approach to
defense. He said the damage to the two cables was “a very clear
sign that something is afoot."
“No one believes these cables were severed by mistake, and I
also don't want to believe versions that it was anchors that by
chance caused damage to these cables,” he said at a regular
meeting of European Union defense ministers.
“So we have to state — without knowing in concrete terms who it
came from — that this is a hybrid action. And we also have to
assume — without already knowing it, obviously — that this is
sabotage.”
The foreign ministries of Finland and Germany had already said
Monday evening that the damage raised suspicion of sabotage.
They said in a joint statement that the damage comes at a time
that “our European security is not only under threat from
Russia‘s war of aggression against Ukraine, but also from hybrid
warfare by malicious actors.”
The statement said the countries were investigating the
incident, and that it was crucial that such “critical
infrastructure” be safeguarded.
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