Damaged cables appear to be accident, Finland says

Finland's transport agency says that fibre-optic cables connecting Finland and Sweden appear to have been cut accidentally.

"Both cables appear to have been cut during construction work," Traficom said, adding that the cables had been repaired.

The Swedish government earlier said it suspected an act of "sabotage" on the cable, which links the two countries, but Finnish police said they did not have reason to suspect criminal activity.

Nordic telecoms group GlobalConnect told the BBC at least one of the breaks had been caused by excavation work.

GlobalConnect in Sweden said around 6,000 households in Finland were affected on Monday. The fault did not affect users in Sweden.

Swedish authorities had said sabotage of the cables was suspected.

While this appears to have been incorrect, the period since Russia's full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has seen heightened tension in the Baltic Sea and a number of incidents involving damage to undersea infrastructure.