Norway seizes Russian-crewed ship suspected of damaging Baltic Sea cable between Latvia and Sweden

The Silver Dania pictured in 2021 near Torshavn. Photo: Wofgang Fricke / Wikimedia Commons

At the request of Latvia, Norwegian authorities have seized the vessel Silver Dania on suspicion that it was responsible for damaging an underwater fiber-optic cable between Latvia and Sweden, according to a report by Norway’s NRK broadcasting corporation. The Norwegian Coast Guard escorted the ship to the port of Tromsø on the morning of Jan. 31.

The ship's route on the MarineTraffic tracking portal shows that it stopped in the waters west of the island of Senja on Thursday evening — around 19:30 local time — before heading to Tromsø.

According to NRK, the cargo ship belongs to the Norwegian shipping company Silversea, but its entire 11-man crew is made up of Russian citizens. Silver Dania was built in 1989 and is registered in Norway. It currently operates between St. Petersburg and Murmansk.

The underwater cable connecting Latvia and Sweden is owned by the Latvian State Radio and Television Center (LVRTC) and is laid at a depth of more than 50 meters. The damage to the cable was discovered on the morning of Jan. 26, 2025.

The Silver Dania is the second ship to have been detained as part of the ongoing probe into the LVRTC cable rupture. In Sweden, authorities seized another vessel, the Vezhen, operated by the Bulgarian company Navigation Maritime Bulgare, on the suspicion that it was behind the damage.

Navigation Maritime Bulgare company head Alexander Kalchev claimed that the Vezhen may have accidentally hit the cable. However, Kalchev stressed that there was no malicious intent, explaining that one of the ship’s anchors fell to the seabed due to strong winds. However, a maritime expert who spoke to The Insider dismissed the claim as highly implausible. Reports by Reuters and Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat quoted Sweden’s Meteorological and Hydrological Institute as saying wind speeds (8–10 meters per second) and wave heights (close to one meter) that night were well below the threshold for issuing a storm warning, putting Kalchev’s testimony in doubt.

This incident follows a series of suspicious episodes in November and December 2024, which saw damage inflicted on power and communication cables in the Baltic Sea. Authorities in the affected countries — which include Sweden, Finland, Latvia, and Estonia — suspect sabotage, potentially linked to Russia.

“I don't believe in coincidences when it comes to frequent cases of damage to underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea,” Estonia's Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a post on X after the latest cable rupture.

In December, Finnish authorities detained the tanker Eagle S, which is suspected of being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” a collection of poorly maintained vessels that help Moscow trade oil at prices above the Western-imposed $60 cap. The tanker is accused of damaging four telecommunications cables — along with the Estlink 2 power cable connecting Finland and Estonia — by dragging its anchor along the seabed. British maritime journal Lloyd’s List, citing an unnamed source directly involved with the vessel, later reported that the Eagle S was equipped with spy equipment capable of monitoring NATO ships and aircraft.

In January, NATO announced the launch of the Baltic Sentry mission to safeguard critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. The operation will involve patrols by frigates, maritime patrol aircraft, and unmanned naval drones.