EE-S1
EE-S1 is a submarine communications cable between Sweden and Estonia. The cable is 240 km in length and it has three landing points – Kärdla, Tallinn and Stavsnäs. It became operational in June 1995.
EE-S1 is owned by the Swedish pension fund through its ownership in Arelion. Arelion was previously called Telia Carrier and was part of Telia Group.
Cable damage
On the afternoon of 7 October 2023, the cable was damaged. Four of the total six fiberoptic cable pairs were totally destroyed and the remaining two were functional. The location of the damaged cables is 70–80 meters below the sea surface according to the Swedish Navy.Just a few hours later, the Balticconnector gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland was ruptured. Another submarine communications cable between Finland and Estonia was damaged at approximately the same time. Politician Antti Kaikkonen was quoted saying "There are a bit too many coincidental coincidences for it to be coincidental".
On 17 October 2023, the damage was made public when the Swedish government reported the incident.
In Estonia, investigation is carried out by the Estonian Internal Security Service, the Prosecutor's Office and, and by the National Bureau of Investigation in Finland. Swedish submarine rescue ship was assisting in the investigation which revealed that the damage was clearly man-made.
Russian cargo ship and Chinese cargo ship were suspected of involvement in the incident. Both ships travelled near EE-S1 at precisely the time the damage occurred. Sevmorput's owner Rosatom denied involvement.
The same two ships also travelled near the Balticconnector precisely at the time of damage, when Norwegian seismic institute Norsar detected seismic waves. The same two ships also travelled near the other damaged portion of EE-S1 between Helsinki and Tallinn.
After the incidents, both ships travelled in pair to Northern Norway, an area dense with undersea cables and gas pipelines. Norwegian Armed Forces reprioritised part of its activities to maritime surveillance. The seas in Northern Norway are heavily patrolled, but the Norwegian Armed Forces declined to provide any comments to the media.
According to Rostelecom, during this incident, Russian optical cable, connecting Kaliningrad and St Petersburg, was also damaged.