The Lithuanian Navy is stepping up surveillance of the NordBalt submarine electric cable amid reports of damage.

Lithuanian broadcaster LRT reported on this.

This power cable is laid between Lithuania and Sweden in the Baltic Sea.

The Lithuanian military and electricity utility Litgrid are stepping up their cooperation to protect critical undersea infrastructure under a cooperation agreement signed on Monday, January 13.

Under the agreement, the parties will exchange information on observed damage and unusual activity and update security measures.

Rokas Masiulis, CEO of Litgrid, noted that this agreement sets an important common goal for Lithuania: ensuring better security of the underwater electricity infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

The move follows Swedish Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bolin’s announcement on Sunday, January 12, of attempts to damage the NordBalt submarine power cable.

Yi Peng 3

The Minister reported that anchor damage was found on the cable, which was probably caused by the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3. This ship is also suspected of deliberately severing and damaging cables between Sweden and Lithuania, Germany, and Finland on November 17 and 18.

Later, a Royal Danish Navy ship detained the vessel and its crew for interrogation and a detailed examination of their course and actions in the vicinity of the telecommunications cables. It was reported that the ship’s captain is a Russian, Alexander Stechentsev, who may be working for Russian special services.

The Wall Street Journal’s sources reported that it was Russian intelligence that ordered the ship’s captain to damage the cables with the anchor. Allegedly, for this purpose, the Russian corvette Mercury specially arrived in the Kattegat area and conducted reconnaissance for the Yi Peng 3, after which it transmitted secret information to the headquarters in Kaliningrad.

Eagle S

In December 2024, Militarnyi reported that on December 25, the Estlink 2 submarine power cable was damaged in the Gulf of Finland, and the Finnish Border Guard boarded and detained the Eagle S tanker, which was suspected of damaging the cable.

The vessel, which was transporting oil from Russia to Egypt, is suspected of deliberately cutting communications between the two countries, as it was passing close to them at the time of the incident.