•Russian oil tanker
Finnish authorities seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea yesterday, suspecting it of causing an outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier, as well as damaging or breaking four internet lines.
The ship, registered in the Cook Islands and identified by authorities as the Eagle S, was boarded by a Finnish coast guard crew, which took command and sailed the vessel into Finnish waters, according to a coast guard official at a press conference, reports AFP.
“From our side, we are investigating grave sabotage,” said Robin Lardot, Director of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.
“Based on our understanding, an anchor from the vessel under investigation has caused the damage.”
The Finnish customs service confirmed the seizure of the vessel’s cargo, stating that the Eagle S is believed to belong to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of aging tankers that aim to evade sanctions on Russian oil sales.
Two fiber-optic cables owned by Finnish operator Elisa, linking Finland and Estonia, were broken, while a third cable owned by China’s Citic was damaged.
Additionally, a fourth internet cable running between Finland and Germany, belonging to Finnish group Cinia, was also believed to have been severed, as reported by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom.
Both the Finnish and Estonian governments announced they would hold extraordinary meetings later yesterday to assess the situation.
Baltic Sea nations remain on high alert for potential acts of sabotage, following a series of outages in power cables, telecom links, and gas pipelines since 2022. However, subsea equipment is also susceptible to technical malfunctions and accidents.
The European Union strongly condemned any deliberate acts of destruction against the continent’s infrastructure.
“We commend the Finnish authorities for their swift action in boarding the suspected vessel,” stated a joint declaration from EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and the European Commission, the EU’s executive body.
Repairing the 170-km (106-mile) Estlink 2 interconnector is expected to take months, raising concerns about a strained power supply during the winter, according to operator Fingrid.
However, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal reassured that his country would continue to have sufficient access to electricity.
According to a review of MarineTraffic ship tracking data, the Eagle S Panamax oil tanker crossed the Estlink 2 electricity cable at 10:26 GMT on Wednesday, the exact time when Fingrid reported the power outage had occurred.
By yesterday afternoon, the ship was stationary near the Finnish coast, with a Finnish patrol vessel stationed nearby, as shown by the tracking data.
United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLCFZ, which reportedly owns the Eagle S according to MarineTraffic data, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Peninsular Maritime, identified as the ship’s technical manager by MarineTraffic, declined to comment outside regular business hours.
