"Losses and disruption caused by the damage to critical infrastructure is the essence. Especially when you consider that we will soon begin the process of synchronisation with continental Europe. These losses must be compensated, and consequences must be accepted by those who cause damage. It is no longer a critical matter whether the damage is caused intentionally or unintentionally as the losses are huge. We must draw attention to this," Nausėda told reporters on Tuesday.
According to the president, the efforts of NATO bring hope that the Alliance would come up with effective deterrence measures safeguarding infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
The president also notes that hybrid actions are a part of the Russian aggression in an attempt to destabilise the situation and they are used in places where Russia is not yet ready to openly challenge NATO or engage in a military confrontation with NATO. However, he added that damage caused to the subsea cables could not yet be unequivocally attributed to Russia.
As reported, on 26 January, a fibre optic cable linking Sweden and Latvia was damaged. Swedish authorities stopped the ship Vezhen, registered in Malta, on suspicion that it was connected to the incident.
A similar incident happened in November, when communication cables between Finland and Germany, as well as between Lithuania and Sweden were severed. It is suspected that Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3 did so deliberately by dragging its anchor.
In response, NATO launched operation Baltic Sentry to increase critical infrastructure security against sabotage.
In 2023, another Chinese vessel damaged the Balticconnector gas pipeline linking Estonia and Finland.