An undersea data cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early on January 26, the latest in a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea in which critical seabed energy and communications lines are believed to have been severed by ships traveling to or from Russian ports.

Latvia's prime minister says her government has reached out to Sweden and other Baltic Sea allies in NATO for assistance as it investigates the cause of damage to an underwater fiber-optic data cable running to Sweden.

RIGA - Finland's message regarding the damaged submarine fiber-optic cable linking Latvia and Sweden is clear - together we are stronger, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told reporters in Riga on Tuesday.

Direct challenges to Baltic security include regional aggression waged by Russia and policies of Belarus complementing the aims of Moscow. The conventional warfare in countries across the border from the Eastern Flank of NATO and the EU is aggravated by civilian displacement and migration from Ukraine and the Middle East.

Sweden said Sunday that it seized a vessel suspected of damaging a fiber-optic cable under the Baltic Sea that links the country to Latvia, in what authorities are investigating as an act of "aggravated sabotage.

RIGA, Latvia (AP ... aggravated “sabotage” and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish ...

Shipping firms may need to pay a fee to use the Baltic Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping routes, in order to cover the high costs of protecting undersea cables, Estonia's defence minister said on Wednesday following a spate of breaches.

NATO is ratcheting up its guard against suspected attempts to sabotage underwater energy and data cables and pipelines that crisscross the Baltic Sea.

Latvia said it had dispatched a warship on Sunday after damage to a fibre optic cable to Sweden that may have been due to external

NATO is deploying eyes in the sky and on the Baltic Sea to protect cables and pipelines that stitch together the nine countries with shores on Baltic waters.

Nato countries have stepped up patrols to protect critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, which is bordered by eight countries, and other waters. A Royal Navy submarine was ordered to surface last November close to a suspected Russian spy ship which was loitering over undersea infrastructure in UK waters.