Sweden has sent a formal request to China to cooperate with an investigation into suspected sabotage over the sudden disruption of two submarine internet cables in the Baltic Sea earlier this month, after tracking data linked a Chinese ship to the incidents.

Sweden has formally asked China to cooperate in explaining the recent rupture of two data cables on the Baltic Sea bed in an area where a China-flagged vessel had been sighted, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Thursday.

Sweden has demanded that the Chinese vessel connected to an investigation of two Internet cables in the Baltic Sea being damaged earlier this month return to its waters as part of the probe.