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Norway detains Silver Dania ship with Russian crew for involvement with Vezhen [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-31

I thought it was an open and shut case with the Vezhen, seized by Sweden. But now another ship has been seized, this time by Norway.

It's for the same cable damage that was done on January 26th.

The Silver Dania was directed to the port of Tromsø. Norwegian police are on the vessel and interviewing the Russian crew.

The Norwegians did so because of a request from Latvia to investigate. The fiber optic cable that was damaged on January 26th runs between Latvia and Sweden's Gotland Island.

The owner of Silversea, the company that owns the ship, Tormod Fossmark, denied any involvement in the cable incident

He asserted that the vessel was sailing at a constant speed of 13 knots near Gotland and did not drop its anchor. He said the crew was well known to the company and had been working for it for years.

SilverSea does have a website. Their main office is in Bergen, Norway. The Silver Dania IMO 8808604 (International Maritime Organization).

Other news article say the owner is Fjord Shipping, also with a .NO address, Norwegian URL. Clicking on SharePoint on their website brings up a login for a VPN. Clicking on webmail brings up Microsoftonline.com login. It's like for employees only, if it's not fake. They've got a Facebook page and the Silver Dania is on it.

MagicPort can't find Silversea or Silver Sea, or Fjord Shipping. The only Silversea that comes up is a cruise line.

The Google link to Fjord Shipping shows Aug. 21, 2020. The Silver Sea website shows a 2025 copyright.

The answer so far would be that Silver Sea is the owner and Fjord Shipping is the manager and ISM (International Safety Management). That's exactly what Fjord says on their website, that they're an ISM certified by DNVGL.

These do not appear to be shell companies. Silversea is hard to find because of the cruise line.

There's also a Silversea Containers in Barcelona, Spain.

I found a news story on Tradewinds on Silversea buying two new reefers in 2006.

I'm going to say both companies are legitimate and move on to why Latvia thought they were involved in the damage to the Latvia Radio and Television Center's (LVRTC) fiber optic cable. After all the shell game companies that have been part of every cable cut and pipeline damage, I felt the need to check the companies out first.

The Silver Dania is flagged in Norway, as are all the Silversea ships. It was on it's way from St. Petersburg to Murmansk. That explains the all Russian crew of 11.

Troms police put out a statement:

"There is suspicion that the ship has been involved in serious damage to a fiber cable in the Baltic Sea between Latvia and Sweden. The police are conducting an operation on the ship to search, conduct interviews, and secure evidence."

Besides the diary I did on the Vezhen, there is some new information on it. The Swedish authorities used an elite armed police unit using a helicopter to board the ship and seize it. Just like what happened with the Eagle S.

The Silver Dania was stopped because:

"The ship is suspected of having someone on board who was involved in the cable incident in the Baltic Sea. This is classified as serious vandalism," said Ronny Joergensen, a prosecutor, during a televised news conference. Joergensen declined to provide detail.

Okay, if someone on the Silver Dania was involved in the Vezhen cutting the cable, how did he get from the Vezhen to the Silver Dania?

Swedish prosecutor Mats Ljungvist said he felt confident that the Vezhen had caused the damage.

"Our view is that it is the vessel we have seized has caused the cable break", he told Reuters.

"We have looked at the vessel that has been seized in Norway, but for various reasons we have dismissed it."

It seems we have two conflicting reports here.

A little more background:

Ship traffic data shows how the suspicious ship sailed straight northward and then at midnight on January 30th, it made a sharp turn eastwards toward the port of Tromsø. Similar data shows how the Coast Guard ship KV Bison was waiting in the same area.

Several other articles have made the mistake of saying that Fjord Shipping is the owner of the Silver Sea, when it's not.

There were forensic examinations of the ship's interior. The police have also started a digital investigation where they were looking at digital devices that could be found on the ship.

They must be talking about either satellite phones, or cell phones that would have data on them, and possibly laptop computers. There's no detail given.

Tormod Fossmark said his ship had no irregularities in its tracking data. This is by AIS, the Automatic Identification System transponders that all commercial ships are supposed to have on 24 hours a day.

Well, he's wrong about the tracking data if the article above is correct. I've tried to find tracking data for January 30th for the ship, but all I can get is the fact that it's at the Port of Tromsø.

Fossmark said that he was surprised that his ship had been stopped because the Vezhen was shown to have damage to its anchor in plain sight.

Alexander Kalchev, the CEO of Navibulgar, had claimed that the dropping of the anchor was an accident caused by bad weather.

Sweden's meteorological institute disputed Kalchev's claim about the bad weather, noting that both the wind and waves were not high at the time of the cable break.

The story could just be much ado about nothing, or it could be one more facet in the story of the Vezhen.

There's nothing suspect about either Silversea or Fjord Shipping. So, why did Latvia ask the Norwegians to stop the ship? Possibly just because it was in the same area at almost the same time as the Vezhen. But, again, I can't verify tracking data on the ship.

If it turns out someone on the Silver Dania was involved, the question is how? The Vezhen crew has 8 Bulgarians and 9 from Myanmar. Bulgarians might know Russian, but I doubt that of the ones from Myanmar. However, a crew is always supposed to be able to speak one language that they all know. In all of these stories about these ships they never talk about that. We also don't know the common language on the Eagle S with Georgians and Indians.

There's mystery to why Latvia asked the Silver Dania to be stopped. Why Sweden doesn't think it's a suspect. Why Norway thinks someone on the Silver Dania was involved with the Vezhen. The owner of the Vezhen being caught in a lie about the weather the night of the cable damage. The obvious damage to the Vezhen anchor.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/1/31/2300456/-Norway-seizes-Silver-Dania-ship-with-Russian-crew-for-involvement-with-Vezhen?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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