Finnish authorities have seized a vessel they suspect of having cut undersea power and internet cables two days ago, according to a statement issued by the country’s president and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy. The freighter, called the Eagle S, is being held by Finnish authorities in their territorial waters and has been boarded for an investigation. The Estlink 2 cables sabotaged on Wednesday bring electricity from Finland to Estonia, although “Finland’s energy and telecommunications situation remains stable” according to the statement issued today. Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal stated that repairs to the cables could take as long as seven months.
The government statement further claimed that the vessel belonged to Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet,” an allegation echoed by the EU’s foreign policy chief and former Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas. These are aging fuel tankers with obscure ownership, acquired by Russia to evade sanctions imposed by Western powers like the United States. This would explain the vessel’s far-flung registry to the Cook Islands, as well as its non-Western-regulated insurance. It is suspected at this time that the vessel used its anchor to damage the cables, according to Yle, Finland’s national public-broadcasting company.
Finnish and Estonian leadership have sounded the alarm over this recent incident involving the Eagle S. Kallas called it “the latest in a series of suspected attacks on critical infrastructure,” as data cables running through the Baltic Sea linking Finland and Germany, and others linking Lithuania and Sweden, were cut in November. Michal, who took part in an emergency meeting in the wake of Wednesday’s sabotage, called for improved “monitoring and protection of critical infrastructure both on land and on sea.” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on X that the alliance of Western states will “enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea.”
The Baltic Sea has become a site of increased geopolitical tensions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago. In September of 2022, the Nord Stream oil pipeline linking Russia and Germany was sabotaged with explosives, rendering them inoperable. The culprit in that case remains unclear, although a European arrest warrant was issued for a Ukrainian national who still remains at large.
