The electricity grid company “Fingrid” is requesting the arrest of the “Eagle S” vessel, which may be involved in damaging the submarine cable between Finland and Estonia and may belong to Russiaʼs shadow fleet.
This was reported by the “Fingrid” press service.
The company has already filed a lawsuit with the Helsinki District Court. “Fingrid” says the arrest of the vessel is necessary to pursue a claim for damages due to damage to the Estlink 2 submarine power cable, which is currently out of service. The amount of the damages is not disclosed.
According to a “Fingrid” representative, they are requesting that the arrest be imposed only on the vessel, not on its cargo.
The tanker “Eagle S” is currently docked in a port near the Finnish city of Porvoo. The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom is conducting a detailed inspection of the tanker to assess its compliance with international conventions.
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
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(WSJ), 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.
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