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WARSAW/VILNIUS – European governments accused Russia on Tuesday of escalating hybrid attacks on Ukraine’s Western allies as Baltic countries investigated whether the cutting of two fiber optic telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea amounted to sabotage.
“Moscow’s escalating hybrid activities against NATO and EU countries are also unprecedented in their diversity and scale, creating significant security risks,” said the statement signed by the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Great Britain -Britain.
Europe needed to “think and act big” to enhance its security, the statement continued.
The strongly worded statement came as European countries this week examined the complete cutting of the Baltic cables, with one connecting Finland and Germany, the other connecting Sweden to Lithuania, recalling previous incidents on the busy waterway.
Two European sources said the statement was not a direct response to the cable cuts.
One cable was out of service on Sunday morning, the other on Monday less than 24 hours later.
European officials have not directly accused Russia of destroying the cables. But Germany, Poland and others said it was likely an act of sabotage, while Lithuania’s armed forces stepped up surveillance of the waters in response.
“If Russia does not stop committing acts of sabotage in Europe, Warsaw will close the rest of its consulates in Poland,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on Tuesday after several European foreign ministers met in the Polish capital.
Speaking at the same event, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock cited the incident and other recent events when speaking about what she called “hybrid intimidation attempts” by the Kremlin, adding “these cannot all be coincidences.”
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius struck a similar chord when he met EU colleagues in Brussels: “Nobody believes these cables were cut accidentally.”
“We must also assume, without knowing it yet, that it is sabotage,” Pistorius added.
Russia has repeatedly denied sabotaging European infrastructure, saying the claims were fabricated in an attempt to harm Russian interests as part of an information war waged by the West.
Russian officials also say they note that the investigation into the 2022 explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline has not yielded any results.
TENSION
In the most prominent case of sabotage in the Baltic states, the Nord Stream gas pipeline was destroyed in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, hastening Europe’s switch to other energy suppliers.
No one has taken responsibility for these explosions. While some Western officials initially blamed Moscow – an interpretation dismissed as “idiotic” by Russian President Vladimir Putin – US and German media have reported that pro-Ukrainian actors may have played a role.
Regional NATO members are jointly assessing events surrounding the latest cable cuts, a spokesperson for the Lithuanian Armed Forces said.
The Lithuanian Attorney General’s Office was gathering information to determine whether a formal investigation should be launched, a spokesman said.
The Swedish Post and Telecommunications Authority said it is liaising with other authorities to gather information. It declined to comment further.
Finland’s National Investigation Agency said it had also launched an investigation into the broken submarine cable.
The companies that own the two cables both said it was not yet clear what had caused the outages.
“It’s not partial damage, it’s complete damage,” said a spokesman for Arelion, owner and operator of the cable connecting Lithuania and Sweden. The company later said it had filed a police report.
Cinia, which owns the cable connecting Finland and Germany, said it was not possible to say what might have caused the break until repairs had begun. The company says these types of repairs typically take 5 to 15 days.
Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said he had no specific information about who was to blame, but said: “We are seeing increasing activity from Russia in particular on our seas, aimed at espionage and possibly even sabotage of our vital infrastructure.” REUTERS