The company said that on Wednesday morning the materials needed to repair the cable had been delivered to port, where they would be transferred to the ship that would carry out the repair work. At the same time, LVRTC engineers have travelled to Gotland to measure the cable and check the equipment on the Gotland side.
"The cable repair work will start as soon as the vessel needed for the work is available and weather conditions and investigative interests permit," LVRTC representatives said.
The company added that work is currently underway to understand the exact nature of the damage, material losses and other circumstances of the alleged crime.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Evika Silina (New Unity) said in an interview with Latvian Television that one of the companies that was supposed to be involved in the cable repair work is currently busy with repair work elsewhere, so another cooperation partner has to be found.
"We have to look for another partner, another private company that can do this," said Silina, while noting that there are not many companies that can carry out such repairs.
As reported, in the early hours of Sunday, the LVRTC’s subsea fibre-optic cable in the Baltic Sea was damaged in the Ventspils-Gotland section. The cable was damaged in Swedish economic waters about 130 kilometres off the Latvian coast.
The Latvian State Police has opened criminal proceedings in connection with the incident, State Police Chief Armands Ruks confirmed to LETA. The criminal proceedings have been initiated under two articles of the Criminal Law, namely for intentional destruction and damage to property, if it has caused serious consequences, and for intentional destruction and damage to a public electronic communications network, if it has caused serious consequences.
Accordingly, the Swedish authorities on Sunday arrested a vessel suspected of sabotaging the fibre-optic cable in the Baltic Sea.
The Swedish Public Prosecutor’s Office also announced that an investigation into "aggravated sabotage" had been opened after damage to an undersea cable connecting Sweden and Latvia. The Swedish Security Service is leading the initial investigation. Several authorities are involved in the investigation, including the Swedish police, the Coast Guard and the Swedish Armed Forces.
Later it became known that the ship Vezhen has been arrested. According to the website Marine Traffic, which tracks vessel traffic, the bulk carrier Vezhen was faring under the Maltese flag and was on its way from Sweden to Denmark.
Marine Traffic data also show that the Vezhen sailed across the cable at around 1 a.m. on Sunday, according to Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
At the same time, the Bulgarian shipping company Navigation Maritime Bulgares, which owns the Maltese-flagged dry cargo vessel Vezhen, has denied deliberately damaging the undersea fibre-optic cable linking Latvia and Sweden.
Photographs released show that one of the ship’s anchors is missing a blade, but it is not clear when the damage occurred. According to representatives of Navigation Maritime Bulgares, the anchor may have been damaged due to adverse weather conditions.
No person have been arrested in connection with the investigation. The crew of the vessel consists of eight Bulgarian and nine Myanmar nationals.
There have been several recent incidents in the Baltic Sea where critical underwater infrastructure has been damaged due to alleged Russian sabotage. In early January, NATO announced that it would launch a new mission to protect submarine cables in the Baltic Sea.