Finnish authorities, while investigating an incident involving damage to submarine cables between it and Estonia, found traces on the seabed left by the anchor of the tanker Eagle S. The anchor was dragged for tens of kilometers.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
Chief Inspector and one of the heads of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, Sami Paila, says that during the underwater work, it was possible to identify the anchor marks on the seabed "from beginning to end."
Finland considers the Eagle S, a vessel from the Russian shadow fleet, to be the main suspect in the cable severing. The tanker has been moved to an anchorage near the port of Kilpilahti in the city of Porvoo. It could remain there for several months.
The crew of the Eagle S must remain on board while it is detained as its members are not allowed to be in Finland. The vessel was flying the flag of the Cook Islands.
What happened
On Christmas Day, the afternoon of December 25, the Estlink 2 submarine power cable between Finland and Estonia broke. Two ships were sailing overhead at the time of the incident. Finnish police suspect that the Eagle S, a vessel en route from Russia to Egypt, was involved. It had slowed down significantly when the cable broke. It is believed that the cable broke due to an anchor that the ship was dragging along the seabed.
The tanker Eagle S belongs to Russiaʼs shadow fleet. Spy equipment was found on it.
What preceded this
An undersea telecommunications cable between Finland and Germany, which runs alongside other important undersea infrastructure, including gas pipelines and power cables, was severed on November 18, 2024. A cable between Lithuania and Sweden was also reported to have been severed. Both incidents came just weeks after the United States detected increased Russian military activity around major undersea cables.
Germany immediately declared that these incidents were sabotage and a hybrid attack. The American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, citing sources, wrote that the crew of the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 is suspected of severing communication cables in the Baltic Sea. Investigators believe that the crew may have intentionally severed two important data cables while dragging an anchor along the bottom of the Baltic Sea for more than 160 kilometers.
The Yi Peng 3 has a two-man crew: a Chinese captain and a Russian sailor. European investigations are now focused on whether the captain was recruited by Russian intelligence. Law enforcement officials say it is “extremely unlikely” that the captain did not see the dropped anchor, which slowed the ship for hours and tore cables in its path.