Government given overview of investigation into undersea cables

Working with the Finnish and Estonian navies, Estonian investigators completed their investigation of the telecommunications cable running between the two countries in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The results so far indicate that the damage to the cable was manmade. Further investigations will determine whether this is the case and whether the damage was due to carelessness or another reason.

Since initial evidence has now been gathered from the cable, plans for its repair can now be accelerated and will hopefully be in place by next week. The cable repair vessel has so far been of help in pinpointing the site of the damage and gathering evidence.

Although both the Estonian and Finnish investigators are aware of vessels that were in the area at the time of the damage, work to establish any links between them is ongoing and it is too soon to indicate a culprit. Nor has it been confirmed that the damage was deliberate and designed to impair critical infrastructure.

The damage to the undersea cable between Estonia and Sweden is being studied as part of the same investigation, because initial data there suggests that the damage may have been manmade. However, this remains to be determined in the course of further investigation.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas thanked the Estonian experts and investigators and their Finnish colleagues for their efforts. “They have worked incredibly hard out at sea over the last three days,” she noted. “I fully trust in them to ascertain the truth of the situation.”

The operation of Estonia’s communication services has been ensured to the maximum extent throughout these events. Other cables can be used if undersea cables are damaged, including alternative underwater cables and the ground cables running between Estonia and Latvia. The country has nine different connections guaranteeing the uninterrupted operation of its communication services: seven undersea cables and two ground cables.