Baltic Sea cable sabotage raises security concerns in Europe
Despite the severance of two telecommunication lines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, network traffic was nearly unaffected, reports the Polish Economic Institute in Thursday's edition of "Economic Weekly." PIE points out, however, where in Europe there are sensitive points for similar sabotage.
In the middle of the month, internet cables running on the Baltic Sea floor were cut. These cables connect Lithuania with Sweden and Finland with Germany. PIE states that despite this, the internet was functioning impeccably.
"This means that the infrastructure providing digital connectivity in our region is well-developed, and alternative routes for signal transmission are available for individual connections," assessed Ignacy Święcicki from the Polish Economic Institute in Thursday's edition of "Economic Weekly."
According to the think tank, this occurred because internet traffic is also transmitted via terrestrial and satellite connections. In the case of Finland or Sweden, the sea route is significantly shorter.
Sensitive points in Europe
However, Europe is not completely immune to this type of "failure." For instance, island nations are dependent on submarine infrastructure – in the EU, this includes Ireland, Malta, and Cyprus.
A crucial location in this context is also Marseille in France, located on the Mediterranean Sea. From there, as many as 16 cables connect Europe with Africa and Asia. Additionally, Marseille is a major hub housing data centres.
"Such locations may be particularly vulnerable to various types of attacks aimed at disrupting telecommunications," emphasizes PIE.
The European Commission and NATO are not indifferent to this threat, evaluated the institute. Evidence of this is the first meeting of NATO's network of experts on submarine critical infrastructure, which took place in May of this year. Three months earlier, the European Commission, in a White Paper devoted to the development of the telecommunications market, highlighted the necessity of ensuring the security of submarine cables.
Importantly, the role of submarine cables will grow in the coming years, and attacks are not the only threat, warns PIE.
"The Union risks dependency on a small number of providers of critical infrastructure, similar to the case of cloud computing or AI tools controlled by the largest American companies," warns the Polish think tank.
What happened in the Baltic Sea?
On November 17 and 18, two submarine telecommunication cables in the Baltic Sea were damaged - C-Lion 1 and BCS East-West Interlink. The situation occurred in the Swedish economic zone. The crew of the Chinese ship Yi Peng 3 is suspected of severing the cables.
The vessel is currently anchored in international waters in the Kattegat Strait between Denmark and Sweden, surrounded by Danish and Swedish ships. Swedish and German authorities are negotiating the possibility of boarding and questioning the crew. The ship's captain is a Chinese citizen, and among the crew is a Russian.
On Wednesday, "The Wall Street Journal" reported that investigators examining the cable break on the Baltic seabed suspect that the detained Chinese container ship intentionally cut the wires. According to "WSJ" findings, the investigation is focusing on whether the ship's captain committed sabotage on orders from Russian services.
