STOCKHOLM, November 19. /TASS/. The Swedish armed forces and coast guard detected ship movements in the area of the Baltic Sea where damage was done to telecommunication cables, Swedish Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told TV4 television.

"We can state that the armed forces and the coast guard, in their observations of the situation at sea, detected the movement of vessels coinciding in time and place with the rupture. This prompted the police to start a preliminary investigation into an alleged sabotage. The situation is, of course, very serious," he said.

According to the police, the situation is currently being monitored and work is underway to determine measures that need to be taken.

Two underwater cables were damaged in the Baltic Sea on November 17 and 18. One connected Germany and Finland, and the other Sweden and Lithuania. The first cable runs along the Nord Stream pipeline. Its failure was reported by the Finnish government-owned telecom operator Cinia. According to the company, the repair of the cable could take from 5 to 15 days. The German and Finnish foreign ministries in a joint statement on Monday expressed concern over the damage and said a thorough investigation was underway. The damage to the second cable was later reported by the Swedish telecom company Telia.