Finnish authorities fear a mysterious Russian ship has sabotaged a major power cable by dragging its anchor on the seabed dozens of miles.
In addition to the Estlink 2 power cable being torn down in the Gulf of Finland, four other communication lines were also damaged in a suspected deliberate act of sabotage.
5
5
5
Finnish police said they found traces along the bottom of the Baltic Sea where a tanker carrying Russian oil sailed.
The Eagle S is a 751-foot Cook Islands-registered ship that is seen as part of Russia's “shadow” or “dark” fleet run by Vladimir Putin to evade sanctions.
Reports say the tanker is full of spy equipment that enables the Russians to monitor NATO shipping and aircraft.
Finnish police and coast guard officials boarded the ship on Thursday and sailed to Finnish waters, where the crew of the detained tanker are being questioned.
The anchor traces extend more than 60 miles into the seafloor, according to the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
The Baltic Sea countries were on high alert after a series of outages in power cables, telecommunications lines and gas pipelines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
NATO said on Friday that it would strengthen its presence in the region.
The outage of the 658 MW Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia occurred at midday on Christmas Day, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 linking the two countries, grid operators said.
They said Estlink 2 may not return to service before August.
Four other communications cables between NATO countries Finland and Estonia were also damaged.
“The track ends where the ship has lifted the anchor chain, and from there to the east,” said Chief Inspector Sami Paila of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation. [the trail] “It extends for dozens, if not about a hundred kilometers.”
It has not yet been possible to determine the exact location where the anchor was dropped, but the search at the seabed will continue after weather conditions improve.
The crew, which includes citizens of India and Georgia, is facing interrogation after the ship was detained at Kilbilhti port.
According to the Marine Traffic Service, the Eagle S departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga for Egypt, but slowed sharply as it passed over the Estlink 2 cable on Christmas Day.
The cable stopped working immediately.
“We assume at this stage that the ship in question is a member of the Shadow Fleet,” said Sami Rakshit, head of the Finnish Customs Agency.
British-owned shipping industry newspaper Lloyd's List, which revealed the presence of spy equipment on board the ship, said the Eagle S had previously dropped “sensors” in the English Channel during transit.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Finland's detention of the ship was of little significance.
Russia has denied involvement in any of the previous incidents of infrastructure destruction in the Baltic region.
5
5
