The NATO military alliance is ramping up efforts to protect undersea cables in the region amid growing concerns of Russian sabotage and spying. View on euronews

Norwegian police seized a Russian-crewed ship on suspicion of being involved in causing “serious damage” to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden.

The Russian-crewed, Norwegian-owned ship Silver Dania is being searched in relation to damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea.

Police say a Norwegian-owned and Russian-crewed ship that authorities suspect may have been involved in damage to an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland has been stopped off Norway.

The Norwegian vessel Silver Dania with a crew consisting entirely of Russian citizens was detained by the Norwegian Coast Guard at the request of Latvia on suspicion of cable damage in the Baltic Sea.

The cargo ship is suspected of being involved in causing serious damage to a fibre cable between Latvia and Sweden. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The incident is the latest in a series of cases of cables being damaged in the Baltic Sea, amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The ship belongs to a Norwegian company and was en route from St. Petersburg to Murmansk, in the Arctic Circle

The Russian crew and Norway-owned shipping company are cooperating with the authorities, police say, days after Sweden detained another vessel.

Norway has detained the Silver Dania on suspicion of involvement in damaging a fiber optic cable in the Baltic Sea. The ship's crew are Russians, Dagbladet reports. Norwegian police said they had seized the Silver Dania based on a legal request from Latvia and a court order.

Norwegian police said on Friday (Jan 31) they had seized and boarded a Norwegian ship with an all-Russian crew on suspicion of involvement in causing damage to a telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea, the second vessel to be named by investigators in the case.

Hurtigruten's 500-passenger MS Trollfjord cruise ship is seen in its namesake fjord, the Trollford in northern Norway. (Hurtigruten Norwegian Coastal Express/Hurtigruten Norwegian Coastal Express)