Authorities are investigating damage to an undersea telecommunications cable in the Gulf of Finland that occurred early on Wednesday between the capitals of Finland and Estonia.<\/p>\n
Finnish authorities seized and inspected the vessel suspected of causing the damage, the border guard said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Its anchor was lowered when it was discovered in Finland\u2019s exclusive economic zone.<\/p>\n
The Fitburg ship was sailing under the flag of St Vincent and Grenadines and had departed from the Russian port of St Petersburg, a police spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
According to MarineTraffic data it was headed for Haifa in Israel.<\/p>\n
Police said 14 crew members are currently being held for questioning and reported their nationalities as Russian, Georgian, Kazakh and Azerbaijani.<\/p>\n
Helsinki police have opened an investigation into potential aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.<\/p>\n
The cable belongs to telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered to be critical underwater infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The damage occurred in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone, police said.<\/p>\n
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb thanked all the agencies involved in the operation in a post on X.<\/p>\n
“We are monitoring the situation in close cooperation with the government. Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds and we respond to them as necessary,” he wrote.<\/p>\n
Estonian authorities are cooperating with their Finnish counterparts to decide whether they should initiate a separate criminal case or move forward in a joint prosecution.<\/p>\n
The justice ministry in Tallinn said that a second telecoms cable connecting the country to Finland, operated by Swedish company Arelion, was also damaged on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Similar incidents<\/p>\n
In December 2024, Finnish authorities boarded the Russian-linked oil tanker Eagle S which investigators said had damaged a power cables and telecommunications links in the Baltic Sea by dragging its anchor along the seabed.<\/p>\n
That case was dismissed by a Finnish court in October after prosecutors failed to prove intent.<\/p>\n
There are eight NATO countries bordering the Baltic Sea, which also borders Russia, and they have been on high alert following a string of incidents which saw undersea power cables, telecoms links and gas pipelines damaged.<\/p>\n