Finnish court upholds oil tanker seizure in submarine cable investigation | News of the war between Russia and Ukraine

Finland has seized the tanker Eagle S carrying Russian oil on suspicion of damaging the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 terminal.

A Finnish court rejected a request for someone’s release oil tanker Police suspect damage to an undersea power line and four communications cables in the Baltic Sea.

Last week, Finland seized the tanker Eagle S carrying Russian oil on suspicion that it had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and communications cables the previous day by dragging its anchor across the seabed.

A lawyer representing UAE-based Caravella LLC FZ, which owns the tanker, has sought the release of the ship and its crew.

“The district court rejected the defendant’s claim, which means this reservation remains valid,” Helsinki District Court Judge Tato Koistinen said on Friday.

Finnish lawyer Hermann Ljungberg, who represented Caravella, said the company now plans to file a new application to release the ship.

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation detained the ship and the Finnish Customs Office confiscated its cargo of 35,000 tons of unleaded gasoline while it investigated whether sanctions against Russia had been violated.

The Customs Service believes the Eagle S is part of a Shadow fleet Of old tankers used to evade sanctions by selling Russian oil.

Ljungberg, who accused Finland of seizing the Eagle S ship in international waters, said on Friday that his legal filing seeks transparency about the location of the seizure, but the court rejected that.

The lawyer said that the owners of the shipment also intend to demand its release.

The Eagle S, registered in the Cook Islands, has been moved to a bay near the Finnish port of Porvoo where police are currently collecting evidence and questioning the crew, who are Georgian and Indian nationals.

Finnish police said eight crew members were suspects in the investigation.

Sweden said on Friday it would also send a military ship to assist in the Finnish investigations.

“With their unique expertise, the Swedish Armed Forces are helping Finland shed light on what happened,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said in a statement.

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 last week that it would strengthen its presence in the region.

The EU also announced enhanced measures to protect submarine cables through improved intelligence sharing and the use of new detection technology and repair capabilities.