Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M) states that he received the new information about the cable from Estonia early on Thursday evening.

The preliminary assessment is also that the damage to the Swedish-ethnic cable on the bottom of the Baltic Sea is linked to damage recently discovered on a gas pipeline and a data cable between Finland and Estonia.

This means that the damage to the three lines, which are close to each other, has the same cause.

"The Swedish Armed Forces are now on site and conducting investigations with the ship Belos," says Pål Jonson.

He expects that a decision from that investigation can come in a day.

Strengthened monitoring

Due to the damage to infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, NATO announces that it is now strengthening its presence in the region, the defense alliance announces in a press release. A fleet of four minesweeping vessels will be sent to the area, while the number of NATO flights in the area will increase.

"We continue to monitor the situation closely, and we are in close contact with our allies Estonia and Finland, as well as with our partner Sweden," spokesman Dylan White said in a press release.

NATO points out that it already strengthened its presence in the Baltic Sea in connection with the sabotage of Nord Stream a year ago. Among other things, drones are used to detect suspicious activity, the alliance writes.

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A Russian and a Chinese ship passed through the cable when it was damaged. Photo: Wikimedia commons