Finnish police seize ship suspected of sabotaging undersea telecoms cable
Finnish police detained a ship suspected of damaging the undersea telecommunications cable running from Helsinki to Estonia across the Gulf of Finland.
Cargo ship Fitburg, St. It was sailing from St Petersburg to the Israeli port of Haifa under the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
All 14 crew members were arrested after the cable belonging to Finnish telecom operator Elisa was damaged. The operator said in a statement that the damage “does not affect the functionality of Elisa’s services in any way” and that its services have been rerouted.
Police said they were investigating “aggravated disruption of communications” and “aggravated sabotage and attempted aggravated sabotage”.
Police added that the detained crew were Russian, Georgian, Kazakh and Azerbaijani.
Undersea cables carry vital electricity and data between countries and keep people connected to the internet. There have been a number of incidents in the Baltic Sea in recent years where underwater cables were damaged or completely cut off.
The Finnish coast guard said Wednesday morning that Finnish authorities sent a helicopter and patrol ship to the area, where they detected the ship’s anchor drifting at sea.
They said they “launched an operation this morning to investigate suspected cable damage” after telecoms provider Elisa detected a fault.
Finnish police said authorities “took control of the ship as part of a joint operation.”
“At this stage police are investigating the incident as aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications,” police said.
“Finland is prepared for various types of security challenges and we respond to them appropriately,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a statement on social media. he said.
According to local media reports, journalists at the press conference asked the police whether the cable was damaged on behalf of another country.
Police Chief İlkka Koskimäki replied: “The police or other authorities do not speculate on these matters. The duty of the police is to investigate what happened.”
Eight NATO countries border the Baltic Sea – Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden – and also border Russia.
The Estonian government said the second telecom cable connecting it to Finland was also disrupted on Wednesday. “I hope it is not a deliberate act, but the investigation will become clear,” said the country’s President Alar Karis.
Stating that the European Commission is monitoring the incident closely, EU technology commissioner Henna Virkkunen added that she is prepared against “hybrid threats” in her post on X.
Many experts and political leaders considered the recent incidents of suspected cable sabotage as part of Russia’s “hybrid war” against Western countries. The issue has increasingly become a focus of attention since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
In a post on X, Finnish MP Jarno Limnell said, “We are talking about national security anyway. Critical infrastructure is at the forefront.”
