A Norwegian vessel with a Russian crew, which authorities initially suspected of being involved in the damage to an underwater fiber-optic cable connecting Latvia and the Swedish island of Gotland, has been released.
The Norwegian police stated that no conclusions had been made that could link the ship Silver Dania to this incident.
"The Tromsø police district conducted a series of investigative actions and ensured what we consider necessary, given Latvia's request. The investigation will continue, but we see no reason for the vessel to remain in Tromsø," said police prosecutor Ronny Jørgensen.
The ship Silver Dania was stopped on Thursday evening and brought to the port of Tromsø in northern Norway on Friday morning by a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel for inspection. This occurred following a request from Latvian authorities and a decision by a Norwegian court.
At that time, the police stated there were suspicions that the vessel, which was traveling between the Russian ports of St. Petersburg and Murmansk at the time of its detention, was involved in the serious damage to the cable discovered last weekend in the Baltic Sea.
Authorities did not provide further details but reported that they were searching the vessel and conducting interviews.
The head of Silver Sea, Tormod Fossmark, stated that he rules out any involvement of his vessel in the cable damage near Gotland. According to him, it did not anchor there, which is believed to have damaged the cable. As Fossmark noted, the ship was brought to port to eliminate any possibility of its involvement in the incident.
The damage to the data transmission cable connecting Latvia's Ventspils with Gotland was discovered last Sunday. This is not the first such incident in recent months.