Russian naval ships have been interfering with construction work on the Nordbalt cable, a new link between Lithuania and Sweden, according to media reports.
The Swedish press says that in the last two months, Russian ships have disrupted cable-laying activities four times. Both the Lithuanian and Swedish governments say they have discussed the matter with Russian authorities.
In the most recent incident, a Russian naval ship ordered a Swedish cable-laying vessel to change course because it wanted to carry out a military exercise, according to Lithuania's Foreign Ministry. Similar incidents occurred earlier in April and in late March.
The 400 km-long cable runs from Klaipeda in Lithuania to Nybro on Sweden's east coast and is a key project in the integration of the Baltic energy market with Europe. It will reduce Lithuania's dependence on Russian energy and increase trading.
Nordbalt is expected to be operational by the end of 2015.
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