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.

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.

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 connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland earlier that day.

The Vezhen was seized in Swedish waters, where it was anchored. The ship’s Bulgarian owners claim the damage was accidental, but authorities are investigating.

Swedish authorities have seized a ship suspected of damaging a data cable running under the Baltic Sea to Latvia. The Vezhen - a Maltese-flagged ship - is now anchored outside the Swedish port of Karlskrona.

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.

Intelligence officials in the U.S. and Europe have suggested that recent incidents damaging critical cables in the Baltic Sea were accidental, according to a Washington Post report. Western geostrategic self-deception has overly emphasized fears of escalation and cornering Russia.

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.

General Kaspars Pudans, the new commander of the Latvian armed forces, admitted that it is not possible to fully oversee the Baltic Sea's underwater infrastructure. This was in response to the recent damage to the fibre optic cable between Latvia and Gotland.

General Kaspars Pudans, the new commander of the Latvian armed forces, admitted that it is not possible to fully oversee the Baltic Sea's underwater infrastructure. This was in response to the recent damage to the fiber optic cable between Latvia and Gotland.