Swedish prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, who is leading the investigation into the sabotage in the Baltic Sea, said that investigators now have a clearer idea of what happened and have come to the conclusion that the ship "Vejen" caused the damage to the submarine cable, "Reuters" quoted him as saying.
"Our opinion is that it was this vessel that caused the cable to be cut", Ljungqvist said in an interview with Reuters.
The investigation initially looked at another ship detained in Norway, but according to the prosecutor, it has now been ruled out as a possible culprit for various reasons that have not been disclosed publicly.
Sweden and Latvia launched an investigation on Sunday into alleged sabotage of a cable connecting the two countries, and Swedish police later seized and boarded the Maltese-flagged Bulgarian ship "Vezhen", suspected of causing the damage.
We recall that the shipowner Bulgarian Navy categorically denied the version of intentional damage to the cable, but did not rule out that the ship's anchor may have cut the cable due to bad weather, because its retaining mechanism was damaged during a storm.
Bulgaria is not involved in any way and our allies do not consider us to be complicit in sabotage activities in the Baltic Sea. There is no possibility that our country will be threatened in terms of image and foreign policy because of the case with the ship "Vezhen", Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev said on Thursday.
The Bulgarian citizens (the crew of "Vezhen" - editor's note) have not been detained, there are no charges and no criminal prosecution against them. This was assured by Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev from the rostrum of the Party House. The Bulgarian consul in Sweden is in contact with the captain, and the sailors themselves are in contact with their loved ones. They are not restricted from moving inside or outside the ship. The Bulgarian sailors are in good health, in contact with their close relatives, free and no criminal charges have been filed against them, the Foreign Minister also reassured.
The Bulgarian Embassy in Sweden is closely monitoring the situation with the "Vezhen". Georg Georgiev has spoken with the Swedish Secretary of State and the Foreign Ministers.