Finland investigates Russian ship after power outage

Finnish police are investigating whether a Russian ship was involved in sabotaging an electrical cable running between Finland and Estonia.

Authorities said on Thursday they believed the anchor of the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker may have damaged the Estlink 2 cable, which was cut on Wednesday.

The ship is believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, which consists of ships carrying banned Russian oil products..

This is the latest in a series of incidents in recent years in which underwater cables in the Baltic region have been either damaged or cut completely.

Finland’s national grid operator, Fingrid, said the Estlink 2 station remained out of service but the damage “did not jeopardize the operation of the electricity system” in the country.

Repairs are expected to take “several months.”

“For our part, we are investigating a serious sabotage incident,” said Robin Lardot, director of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation.

President Alexander Staub posted on X that he got an “overview” of the cable hack from authorities.

He stressed the need to “avoid the dangers” posed by ships that are part of the Shadow Fleet.

Finnish police said the case was being investigated as an “aggravated criminal act.”

The damaged cable has a capacity of 650 MW and is 170 kilometers (105 miles) long, of which 145 kilometers are under water. The fault was located on Thursday in the submarine section.

The European Union threatened to impose further sanctions on Russia as a result of the incident and said it was “strengthening efforts to protect submarine cables.”

“We strongly condemn any deliberate destruction of critical infrastructure in Europe,” the European Commission and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a joint statement.

Estonia’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Thursday that damage to critical submarine infrastructure has become “so frequent” that it casts doubt on the idea that such damage could be considered “accidental” or “mere poor seamanship.”

“We must understand that damage to submarine infrastructure is becoming more systematic and should therefore be considered attacks against our vital structures,” Tsahkna said in a press release.

The Foreign Ministry added that the Eagle S ship was taken to a Finnish port.

“In addition to circumventing sanctions, the Shadow Fleet poses a security threat in the Baltic Sea and we cannot just sit and watch,” Tsahkna continued.

The communications cable between Finland and Germany was cut In November, the Internet connection between Lithuania and the Swedish island of Gotland stopped working around the same time.

German prosecutors are still investigating the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline between Russia and Germany in 2022.

In October 2023, the natural gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia was severely damaged.

Finnish officials later said the accident was caused by a Chinese container ship dragging its anchor.