Finland suspects ship of damaging cable in Baltic Sea
Finnish police said they seized a ship believed to have damaged the undersea telecommunications cable stretching from Helsinki to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, via the Gulf of Finland, where suspected sabotage incidents have occurred in recent years.
Police declined to name the ship or its nationality or provide further details about the ship and its crew, stating that “Finnish authorities took control of the ship as part of a joint operation.”
Eight NATO countries border the Baltic Sea, which also borders Russia. They are on high alert after a series of disruptions to power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines along the relatively shallow seabed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
NATO has strengthened its presence in the Baltics with frigates, aircraft and naval drones.
The ship suspected of causing the latest damage had dragged its anchor at sea and was diverted into Finnish territorial waters, police and a Finnish Border Guard official said. Police said the cable belonged to Finnish telecom group Elisa.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said he was monitoring the situation. “Finland is prepared for various types of security challenges, and we respond to them appropriately,” he wrote on X.
In December 2024, Finland boarded the Russian-bound Eagle S oil tanker, which investigators said dragged its anchor, damaging a power cable and several telecommunications links in the Baltic Sea.
A Finnish court in October dismissed a criminal case against the Eagle S captain and other crew members, saying prosecutors had failed to prove intent and ruled that any allegations of negligence must be pursued by the ship’s flag state or the crew’s home countries.
