NATO is ratcheting up its guard against suspected attempts to sabotage underwater energy and data cables and pipelines that crisscross the Baltic Sea.

Sweden is investigating damage to a data cable linked to Latvia, the latest breach in the Baltic Sea region where European authorities are on high alert.

After a series of suspected undersea cable cuttings, NATO has launched a new surveillance and deterrence mission to protect critical infrastructure under the Baltic Sea.

The Nordic country has opened an investigation into the damage, just weeks after NATO stepped up its military presence in the area following a series of similar incidents.

ABOARD A FRENCH NAVY FLIGHT OVER THE BALTIC SEA, Jan 28, (AP): With its powerful camera, the French Navy surveillance plane scouring the Baltic Sea zoomed in on a cargo ship plowing the waters below - closer, closer and closer still until the camera operator could make out details on the vessel's front deck and smoke pouring from its chimney.

Sweden detained a vessel suspected of damaging a subsea data cable connecting it with Latvia, the third such incident in the Baltic Sea in the past three months.

A Bulgarian shipping company on Monday denied that one of its ships had intentionally damaged an underwater fiber optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland.

There has been a sharp rise in damage to undersea cables in the Baltic, with at least 11 incidents reported since October 2023.

NATO ships and aircraft have responded to the damage of an underwater cable in the Baltic Sea, informed NATO Maritime Command (MARCOM) spokesperson, Arlo Abrahamson. NATO Maritime Command spokesperson Arlo Abrahamson conveyed that NATO ships and planes reacted to the events in the Baltic Sea,