The Washington Post reported on January 19 that US officials said that recent damage to undersea infrastructure was not caused by intentional sabotage by Russia but was likely caused by maritime incidents.
The Western intelligence community also expressed consensus with the US on the series of incidents that occurred with undersea infrastructure in recent weeks, finding no signs of malicious actions from Moscow.
Information from European countries participating in the investigation shows that the cable breaks were caused by the negligence of many ships with inexperienced sailors or poor maintenance passing through the Baltic Sea.
Also on January 19, the US continued to emphasize that the damage to European undersea cables was completely accidental, while affirming that Russia had nothing to do with it.
The investigation focuses on three incidents involving ships traveling to and from Russian ports over the past 18 months in the Baltic Sea.
These include a natural gas pipeline leak in the Gulf of Finland in October 2023, believed to have been caused by the container ship Newnew Polar Bear, and damage to a cable near the Nord Stream pipeline believed to have been caused by the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3 in November 2024.
The most recent incident occurred in late December 2024, when the Eagle S, believed to be linked to Russia, allegedly used its anchor to damage the EstLink2 fiber optic cable, connecting Finland and Estonia.
Previously, Russia completely rejected Western accusations of responsibility for the incidents in the Baltic Sea, calling them "baseless".
