Baltic sea cable damage: Norway releases ship with all-Russian crew seized at Latvia’s request

A Norwegian cargo ship with an all-Russian crew has been released by Norwegian authorities, Reuters reported citing police officials.

The authorities had suspected that the ship was involved in damaging a Baltic Sea telecoms cable, but later found no connection to the incident.

According to the police, the Silver Dania was seized at the request of Latvian authorities with assistance from Norway’s coast guard.

“The investigation will continue, but we see no reason for the ship to remain in Tromsoe any longer. No findings have been made linking the ship to the act (of damaging the subsea cable),” the police said in a statement.

The Silver Sea shipping group, the owner of the Silver Dania, denied that the vessel was involved in the incident, according to Norwegian broadcaster TV2.

Sweden and Latvia are investigating the suspected sabotage of the cable linking the two countries, which occurred on Sunday.

Swedish police seized and boarded the Maltese-flagged cargo ship Vezhen on suspicion it caused the damage.

The head of the Vezhen’s operator, a Bulgarian company, said on Monday it might have struck the cable with its anchor but denied any malicious intent.

Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor handling the investigation in Sweden, said on Friday that they had looked at the Norwegian ship but dismissed its involvement.

The Baltic Sea region is on high alert after a series of power cable, telecom link, and gas pipeline outages since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The NATO military alliance recently boosted its presence with frigates, aircraft, and naval drones.

With inputs from Reuters.