Multiple undersea cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea have been damaged in recent months, raising suspicions of sabotage.

An undersea data cable between Latvia and Sweden was damaged early on January 26, the latest in a series of similar incidents in the Baltic Sea in which critical seabed energy and communications lines are believed to have been severed by ships traveling to or from Russian ports.

RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said Sunday that her government has reached out to Sweden and other Baltic Sea allies in NATO for assistance as it investigates the cause of damage to an underwater data cable running to Sweden.

Following damage to an undersea cable in the Baltic Sea, Latvia has made initial progress in the search for the cause. During investigations at the

Direct challenges to Baltic security include regional aggression waged by Russia and policies of Belarus complementing the aims of Moscow. The conventional warfare in countries across the border from the Eastern Flank of NATO and the EU is aggravated by civilian displacement and migration from Ukraine and the Middle East.

Sweden on Sunday said it had seized a ship suspected of having damaged a fibre-optic cable under the Baltic Sea linking the country to Latvia, which sent a warship to investigate the latest apparent act of sabotage.

NATO is deploying eyes in the sky and on the Baltic Sea to protect cables and pipelines that stitch together the nine countries with shores on Baltic waters.

Shipping firms may need to pay a fee to use the Baltic Sea, one of the world's busiest shipping routes, in order to cover the high costs of protecting undersea cables, Estonia's defence minister said on Wednesday following a spate of breaches.

Earlier this month, NATO began a new mission dubbed "Baltic Sentry" which included frigates, maritime patrol aircraft and a fleet of naval drones to provide "enhanced surveillance and deterrence" in the Baltic Sea which the transatlantic alliance says is to protect undersea cables and pipelines.

The Stockholm prosecutor's office announced on Sunday evening the initiation of an investigation into a possible sabotage in the Baltic Sea and the seizure of a ship suspected of damaging an underwater cable between Sweden and Latvia.

NATO launched 'Baltic Sentry', a new naval mission to prevent attacks on cable infrastructure in the Baltic Sea. The alliance says Russia is to blame for recent incidents, but can increased NATO patrols make a difference?

Sweden has opened a preliminary investigation into suspected aggravated “sabotage” and ordered the detention of a vessel in the Baltic Sea suspected of damaging an underwater fiber optic cable connect