Sweden investigates possible sabotage on Gotland Island. Earlier, Russia announced plans for the island.

The Swedish police are investigating a possible act of sabotage on Gotland Island, which was discovered on Sunday, March 2. According to information from Aftonbladet and our sources, this act may have resulted in the entire island being left without water. Säpo spokesperson Johan Wikström confirms that the Swedish Security Service is aware of the incident that occurred yesterday.

On Monday, the authorities of Gotland confirmed that the water supply to the island has suffered serious sabotage. The pumps used to draw raw water from the lake have been damaged. The head of the regional water supply and sewage management, Susanna Björgegård-Pettersson, reported that the bronze cover over the pumps was broken, causing the pumps to stop. She did not specify the number of affected individuals and referred to the lake as confidential information.

Gotland is the largest Swedish island in the Baltic Sea. Since 1679, it has belonged to Sweden, except for a few weeks during the Russo-Swedish War of 1808-1809. This island has a strategic location, allowing control over the entire airspace over the Baltic and maritime traffic.

During the Cold War, Gotland was used as a military base, but it was dismantled in 2005 when military presence on the island ceased. However, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, military personnel returned. In 2015, Russia conducted exercises in the Baltic that simulated the capture of the Åland Islands (Finland) and Gotland. Swedish military experts regularly assert that such a scenario is possible and there are grounds to refute this.

This year, an underwater cable near Gotland Island was damaged. According to the coast guard, this cable is located in Sweden's economic zone and connects Finland and Germany.

Earlier this year, we also reported on the damage to the EstLink 2 cable near Gotland Island, which connects Finland and Estonia.