The tanker Eagle S, flying the flag of the Cook Islands and suspected of being part of a “ghost fleet” according to Finnish police, was boarded on Thursday and escorted by a Finnish patrol boat off the coast of Porkkala, about 30 kilometers from Helsinki .
Finland has opened an investigation for “sabotage” into the role of an oil tanker from Russia, suspected of being at the origin of the breakdown of an underwater electrical cable linking the country to Estonia which occurred on Christmas Day. The tanker Eagle S, flying the flag of the Cook Islands and suspected of being part of a “ghost fleet” according to the Finnish police, was boarded this Thursday, and escorted by a Finnish patrol boat off the coast of Porkkala, about 30 kilometers from Helsinki. The ship was transporting “unleaded gasoline loaded in a Russian port,” Sami Rakshit, director general of Finnish customs, said at a press conference.
On December 25, 2024, around 12:26 local time, the EstLink 2 direct current link between Finland and Estonia disconnected from the grid. An investigation into the incident was launched immediately and the disturbance was located on the cable on Thursday by the Finnish (Fingrid) and Estonian (Elering) operators. The Finns’ electricity supply was not affected, according to Fingrid.
A ship’s anchor is believed to be the cause of the disturbance
Very quickly, suspicion fell on an oil tanker sailing in the Baltic Sea at that time: Eagle S was on its way to Port Said in Egypt from the port of St. Petersburg, shows the ship tracking site Marine Traffic. The coastguard, as well as helicopters from the Finnish armed forces, were dispatched to the site. Eagle S was boarded on Thursday. “We have already boarded the ship, spoken to the crew and collected evidence,” announced Robin Lardot of the National Bureau of Investigation. An investigation into “aggravated sabotage” had been opened by the police, he added.
Finnish authorities suspect an anchor from this ship of being the cause of the disruption of the EstLink 2 cable.
“Our patrol boat went to the area and was able to visually see that the anchors of this cargo ship were not present. So there was a very clear reason to suspect that something strange was happening,” he said. explained Markku Hassinen of the border guards at a press conference.
A similar hypothesis was formulated in November 2023, after damage caused to an underwater gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia. According to the Finnish police investigation at the time, the anchor of the Hong Kong-flagged container ship NewNew Polar Bear caused the damage.
Several similar incidents over the past three years
The disruption of the EstLink 2 electricity transmission cable is “very serious”, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said at a press conference on Thursday. “This is why the decisive and determined action taken today and yesterday by our authorities against this ship in our territorial waters sends a strong message to other ships: we will intervene,” he insisted, without specifically incriminating Russia at this stage. The two countries have not yet discussed this matter. At the beginning of the afternoon, the foreign ministers of Finland and Estonia spoke by telephone.
“Damage to sensitive underwater infrastructure has become so frequent that it is difficult to believe that these are accidents or simply poor maritime maneuvers,” said Estonian Margus Tsahkna, quoted in a press release. of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dragging an anchor across the seabed can hardly be considered an accident, he added.
The Baltic Sea has been the scene, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, of several similar incidents. These actions, targeting in particular energy and communication infrastructures, are part, according to experts and politicians, in the context of the “hybrid war” between Russia and Western countries, in this vast area bordered by several NATO members. , where Moscow also has entry points.
Latest: two telecommunications cables cut on November 17 and 18 in Swedish territorial waters in this sea. A Chinese-flagged bulk carrier, the Yi Peng 3 – which was over the area at the time of the incident and who has since left the area, was in the sights of the Swedish authorities.
Related News :