Russia’s state-controlled telecoms giant said Saturday that its underwater cable in the Baltic Sea had been damaged by an “external impact”.

Several undersea telecom and power cables have been severed in the Baltic Sea in recent months, with experts and politicians accusing Russia of orchestrating a hybrid war against Western countries supporting Ukraine.

“Some time ago in the Baltic Sea a Rostelecom underwater cable was damaged as the result of external impact,” Rostelecom’s operator told RIA Novosti news agency.

“Repair work is being carried out,” it added. The company said consumers were not affected.

Earlier Saturday, the Finnish coastguard said they were monitoring repairs of a Russian underwater cable carried out by a Russian vessel in the Gulf of Finland.

According to local authorities the undated incident took place inside Finland’s exclusive economic zone.

The spate of incidents led NATO countries to launch a patrol mission to protect critical underwater infrastructure in January.

Aircraft, frigates, submarines and drones have been deployed as part of the new operation, titled “Baltic Sentry”.

Finnish authorities said in November 2023 that a Rostelecom cable in the Baltic Sea was discovered damaged in October, roughly coinciding with damage to subsea infrastructure in Sweden and Finland.

AFP