Nato is helping find out if Russia or China deliberately cut Baltic allies’ telecoms cables, in order to cause fear of how a new world war might begin.

The Western alarm comes after the C-Lion1 telecommunications cable from Finland to Germany and the BCS East-West Interlink cable from Lithuania to Sweden suddenly went dark on 17 and 18 November.

It happened after a Chinese cargo ship, the Yi Peng 3, sailing from Russia, behaved suspiciously in the area.

“An investigation is underway, as it is important that the facts be established. It is crucial that we’re working together to enhance security of undersea infrastructure,” a Nato official told EUobserver.

Nato opened a Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure in Northwood, near London, in May.

And the centre was “now working closely with the affected allies to help establish the facts,” the Nato official said.

Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, and Sweden have sent their navies and coastguards to find out what happened.