The foreign ministries of Germany and Finland said in a statement on Monday that they were “deeply concerned” by the rupture of the submarine cable connecting the two countries across the Baltic Sea – one of two Baltic Sea links suddenly damaged in recent days.

Finnish company Cinia reported a “fault condition” in the C-Lion-1 submarine cable on Monday afternoon and said in a statement that inspection and repair work was ongoing.

Cinia, who did not make any statement about the interruption in the connection, said that submarine cable repairs generally take 5 to 15 days. The 730-mile cable has been connecting Finland to central European communications networks since 2016.

Germany’s Interior Ministry confirmed to ABC News that officials believe the cable was cut by an external force near the Swedish island of Oland.

Berlin and Helsinki said they were “deeply concerned about the rupture of the submarine cable.”

“It speaks volumes about the volatility of our times that such an incident immediately raises suspicions of deliberate damage,” the joint foreign ministry statement continued.

“A comprehensive investigation is ongoing. Our security in Europe is threatened not only by Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, but also by hybrid warfare by malicious actors. Protecting our shared critical infrastructure is vital to our security and the resilience of our societies.” “

The damage to the C-Lion-1 cable came a day after Swedish telecommunications company Telia Lietuva in Lithuania said one of its submarine telecommunications cable connecting Lithuania and Sweden across the Baltic Sea was damaged.

The cable, which intersects the C-Lion-1 Finland-Germany cable, was damaged on Sunday morning, company spokesman Andrius Semeskevicius told local media.

Damaged cable has been the subject of malfunctions and accidents in the past. However, Semeskevicius told Lithuanian National Radio and Television: “Since both were damaged, it is clear that this was not an accidental fall of one of the ship’s anchors, but something more serious could have occurred.”

The cause of the damage to the cables has not yet been determined. The cuts come amid concerns about Russian sabotage operations in Europe and elsewhere, sparked by Western support for Ukraine in its defensive war against Moscow.

The Baltic Sea has been the scene of mysterious submarine incidents in recent years. sabotage attacks On the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines from Russia to Germany in 2022.

The following year, a Chinese container ship – Newnew Polar Bear – dragged its anchor more than 100 nautical miles across the Gulf of Finland, damaging an undersea natural gas pipeline and two telecommunications cables. Finnish and Estonian authorities are conducting a joint criminal investigation into the incident.

ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

Germany and Finland warn of ‘hybrid warfare’ over damage to Baltic submarine cables originally appeared abcnews.go.com