STOCKHOLM, October 17. /TASS/. Sweden has received data on damage to the underwater telecommunication cable running between Estonia and Sweden, Civil Defense Minister Karl-Oskar Bolin said at a press conference.

"We cannot assess what caused the damage," he said. "But we can state that this damage occurred in a time and space close to the reported damage to the gas pipeline [between Finland and Estonia]," the minister pointed out.

Bolin pointed out that the location of the damage was not in Swedish territorial waters or economic zone, but in Estonia. The authorities of the two countries, as well as Finland, are working closely together to find out the causes of the incidents, he added.

The operation of an undersea gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was suspended due to a suspected leak. Finnish authorities said at a press conference on October 10 that the damage to the gas pipeline, discovered early on the morning of October 9, was likely the result of external interference. Detective Chief of the National Bureau of Investigation Timo Kilpelainen said that the damage site was located in Finland's economic zone, in the central part of the Gulf of Finland.