The Russian government has denied involvement with the cuts of two subsea Internet cables in the Baltic Sea.

"It is quite absurd to continue to blame Russia for everything without any reason," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a regularly scheduled news briefing.

"It is probably laughable against the background of the lack of any reaction to Ukraine's sabotage activities in the Baltic Sea."

The final stage of the C-Lion1 project in Rostock
– Cinia Group

In September 2022, the Nord Stream gas pipeline was sabotaged by explosives. With Russian Navy support ships and submarines near the site at the time, the country was initially blamed for the attack.

Russia, meanwhile, accused the United Kingdom, and then the United States, of being behind the attack.

In March 2023, however, several media outlets claimed that a pro-Ukrainian group may have carried out the attack. A joint investigation by The Washington Post and Der Spiegel that November named a former colonel in Ukraine's Special Operations Forces as spearheading the attack, which he has denied.

Ukraine has denied it is behind the attack, as has Russia.

As for the cable cuts, which affected the C-Lion1 Helsinki-Rostock cable and the BCS East-West link cable between Lithuania and Sweden, the current prime suspect is the Yi Peng 3 vessel.

The Chinese-registered bulk carrier left a Russian port and was heading for Egypt, but passed over both cables around the time they were cut.

The ship has now been detained in the Kattegat strait, with Danish forces believed to have boarded it to investigate. The Chinese Foreign Office said it was not aware of the situation.

It is not known if the cuts were intentional or accidental.