On January 4, in the Baltic Sea, an underwater telecom cable was damaged. Latvian authorities boarded a ship related to this incident on Sunday, according to a statement from the state police.

The Baltic Sea region is on high alert following a series of outages affecting power cables, telecom links, and gas pipelines since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In response, the NATO military alliance has increased its presence in the area with warships, aircraft, and naval drones.

Lithuania's National Crisis Management Centre reported that the damaged cable connects the towns of Sventoji in Lithuania and Liepaja in Latvia, which are approximately 65 km (40 miles) apart. The cause of the damage is still unclear.

Latvian police stated on X that "currently, neither the vessel nor its crew is being held; they are cooperating with the investigation, and efforts are ongoing to determine the circumstances of the incident."

Prime Minister Evika Silina of Latvia confirmed that the damage took place near Liepaja, noting that "the incident has not affected Latvian communications users," as she posted on X.

This incident comes to light just five days after Finnish police seized a cargo ship believed to be involved in sabotaging a telecom cable connecting Helsinki and Estonia across the Gulf of Finland.