A sanctioned vessel from Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” carried out “suspicious maneuvers” near an undersea power cable connecting Poland and Sweden, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote in a statement on X on Wednesday.
“After the effective intervention of our military, the ship sailed to one of the Russian ports,” Tusk added, noting that a Polish Navy survey ship ORP Heweliusz was en route to the area.
The 600-megawatt cable, operated by Polish company PSE, runs from the Swedish coast near Karlshamn to the northern Polish city of Ustka, enabling the two countries to share electricity based on supply and demand fluctuations.
Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz confirmed the infrastructure object’s ownership status — and its strategic importance.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Baltic Sea, where NATO has ramped up security measures following multiple cases of damaged undersea infrastructure — including power lines, telecom cables, and gas pipelines — since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
