Sweden announces cable probe breakthrough

Sweden recovers anchor of suspected Russian tanker tied to Baltic cable sabotage.

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STOCKHOLM:

Sweden said Tuesday that its navy had recovered the anchor of an alleged Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker, which is suspected of damaging telecom and power cables on the floor of the Baltic Sea.

On December 25, the EstLink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables that lie on the seafloor linking Finland and Estonia went offline after suspected sabotage.

The incident occurred just weeks after other cables in the Baltic sea were severed in similar incidents that experts and politicians say are part of a hybrid war between Russia and Western countries.

Suspicion over the December 25 incident has fallen on the Eagle S, an oil tanker flying the Cook Islands flag and that's thought to be part of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" -- ships that carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products, which are embargoed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Finnish police said on December 29 that they had found a drag trail stretching dozens of kilometres (miles) along the seabed.