Finnish police say Russia-linked vessel detained in investigation into severed cables may have dragged anchor 60 miles

Helsinki, Finland – Finnish investigators probing damage to a power cable in the Baltic Sea and several data cables said they found an anchor drag mark on the sea floor, apparently from a Russia-linked ship that had already been seized for investigation.

The Estlink-2 power cable, which transmits power from Finland to Estonia via the Baltic Sea, broke down on December 25 after an apparent rupture. It had little impact on services but was followed earlier Two data cables damaged and Nord Stream gas pipelines.Both were described as sabotage.

Finnish police chief investigator Sami Paila said late Sunday that the track extended “for tens of kilometres… if not nearly a hundred kilometers (62 miles).”

“Our current understanding is that the tow mark in question is the anchor mark of the Eagle S ship,” Paijla told Finnish national television broadcaster Ili. “We have been able to clarify this issue through underwater research.”

“I can say that we have a preliminary understanding of what happened at sea, and how the anchor mark was created there,” Bayla said, without providing further details. He also stressed that “the issue of intentions is an absolutely fundamental issue that must be clarified in the initial investigation, and will be clarified as the investigation progresses.”

Officials said the ship was taken on Saturday to the inland anchorage near the port of Porvoo to facilitate the investigation. She is being investigated under criminal charges of aggravated interference with communications, aggravated sabotage and aggravated regulatory violation.

The ship flies a Cook Islands flag, but Finnish customs officials and the European Union Executive Committee described it as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers. These are old ships with murky ownership, acquired to evade Western sanctions on Russia amid the war in Ukraine, and operate without Western-regulated insurance.

Russia’s use of the ships has raised environmental concerns about accidents given their age and uncertain insurance coverage.

In the wake of the cable outage, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said last week that the military alliance, which Finland joined last year, would step up its patrols in the Baltic Sea region, where tensions have been rising since Russia launched its large-scale invasion. Ukraine in February 2022.

Finland, which shares an 832-mile border with Russia, abandoned its decades-old policy of neutrality and joined NATO in 2023, amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.

About seven months after the Russian invasion began, a series of underwater explosions tore apart the Nord Stream pipelines built to transport Russian gas to Europe. The reason has not yet been confirmed, but Germany did Three Ukrainian citizens are wanted To be questioned in relation to suspected sabotage.

In late November 2024, parts of two data cables were cut in Swedish territorial waters. Ship tracking websites show that the Chinese freighter Yi Peng 3 sailed over the cables around the time they were cut.

Russia responded to early speculation by European officials that the cables may have been damaged as part of Moscow’s hybrid warfare efforts with sarcasm. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time that it was “absolutely ridiculous to continue blaming Russia for everything without any basis.”