Finnish Police Carry Out Tactical Boarding of Suspected Sabotage Ship
On Thursday, authorities in Finland reported that the cable damage incident on Christmas Day affected more than just the Estlink 2 subsea power cable, and that a tanker has been boarded for purposes of investigation. Out of three cable damage incidents in the Baltic over the past year, this is the first in which the coastal state detained the suspects - and the first time that the response was a tactical operation involving armed forces.
Like the two previous suspected sabotage incidents, Wednesday's outage affected multiple cables. In addition to Fingrid's EstLink 2 DC power transmission cable from Finland to Estonia, a set of subsea cables operated by Elisa between Helsinki and Tallinn have been severed. The Cinia submarine cable from Helsinki to Germany has been damaged, as well as the CITIC submarine cable between Helsinki and Tallinn.
The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, Traficom, is investigating the technical aspects of the cable breaks. Finnish police are conducting a parallel law enforcement investigation and have identified the suspect vessel as the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S (as previously observed by open-source intelligence analysts). At this point, the authorities are treating the outage as a case of "aggravated criminal mischief."
"Due to actions taken by the authorities, Eagle S, a tanker registered in the Cook Islands, entered Finland's territorial waters. The vessel's involvement in causing the rupture is under investigation," the Finnish police said in a statement. "The Helsinki Police Department and the Border Guard have conducted a tactical operation on the vessel. The authorities have taken investigative measures on the vessel, with access there provided by the Finnish Border Guard and the Defense Forces helicopters."
Customs authorities are also looking into the details of the vessel's cargo for any irregularities. The ship last called in Ust-Luga, Russia, where tankers typically load Urals crude - a grade restricted by G7 sanctions.
Eagle S is an 18-year-old tanker and changed ownership, name and flag registry. The aging vessel is now tied to operating interests in India and the UAE. Combined with her recent call at a Russian oil port and a poor inspection record, these factors point to her involvement in Russia-linked "dark fleet" operations.
Lloyds List's Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a specialist in the dark fleet, released Eagle S' latest independent vetting report. The inspectors noted a slew of serious deficiencies - like a broken inert gas generator, oil leaks in machinery spaces, unmaintained fire doors, and multiple alarms and meters disconnected or out of order. The vessel's ownership structure is linked to a pool of 26 old, anonymously held Cook Islands-flagged tankers - four of which are under UK or EU sanctions, Bockmann said. For these reasons, the Eagle S is on Lloyds List's "dark fleet" list, along with seven other tankers managed by the same Indian company.
Finnish authorities have reached the same conclusion. “We assume at this stage that the vessel in question is a member of the shadow fleet," Finnish customs chief Sami Rakshit told the New York Times on Thursday.
Finland's prime minister, Petteri Orpo, alluded to Russia's "shadow fleet" in comments Thursday. "Our main task is to find effective means to stop the shadow fleet," Orpo said. "The shadow fleet pumps money into Russia’s war fund . . . and it has to be stopped."
Traficom said that Finnish data connections to nearby states have rerouted to other cables, though data speeds may be temporarily reduced. Cable repair work on the severed communications lines will begin by the end of the week, and the schedule for bringing the cables back online will depend on the Baltic's winter weather.
"Internet use does not depend on a single cable or even its backup connection. The system as a whole can withstand several simultaneous disruptions," said Traficom CEO Jarkko Saarimäki.
Top image: Karri Huhtanen / CC BY 2.0
Finland Boards Russian Shadow Fleet Tanker
After Subsea Cables Go Offline
Finland’s police and border patrol have boarded the Eagle S oil tanker, which is part of Russia’s shadow fleet while investigating the cause of an interruption of subsea power and data cables linking Finland with Estonia, Finnish police said on Thursday.
The tanker, Eagle S, was traveling in the Baltic Sea under the flag of the Cook Islands and was fully loaded with unleaded gasoline, the Finnish police and other authorities said at a news conference, as carried by Bloomberg.
The Eagle S was spotted to be missing its anchor and it could have been this missing anchor that has caused the damage to the subsea cable links.
The Estlink-2 power link went offline on Wednesday afternoon. By early Thursday afternoon investigations were ongoing in both Finland and Estonia on the cause of the damage.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna on Thursday discussed the incidents involving submarine infrastructure with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Tsahkna said in a statement.
“Damage to critical submarine infrastructure has become so frequent that it is difficult to believe this is accidental or merely poor seamanship. We must understand that damage to submarine infrastructure has become more systematic and thus must be regarded as attacks against our vital structures,” the Estonian foreign minister said.
“Cant rule out deliberate damage to the cable,” Tsahkna posted on X.
Estonia is also in touch with its other allies and partners to coordinate international cooperation, the minister said, adding that identifying all circumstances related to the incidents required a joint effort from countries.
“In addition to circumventing sanctions, the shadow fleet is a security threat in the Baltic Sea and we cannot just sit and watch,” Tsahkna said.
The investigation is in its early stages, the foreign minister said on Thursday, but noted that it is positive that the Cook Islands-flagged vessel EAGLE S, which according to initial reports may have had an unsecured anchor, has been escorted into a Finnish port by the Finnish authorities.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
Finnish authorities Board Tanker After Power
Cable Goes Dark
Bloomberg reports that Finnish authorities boarded the crude oil tanker named Eagle S. after a 658-megawatt Estlink 2 power interconnector and several data cables were disrupted.
The Estlink 2 electricity cable connecting Finland and Estonia was disrupted on Christmas Day, sparking concerns of another potential undersea cable sabotage incident in the Baltic region.
The Financial Times reports that Finnish authorities are investigating a crude oil tanker named Eagle S. The tanker flies the Cook Islands flag and is reportedly part of Russia's so-called "dark fleet."
Data from the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic shows the vessel slowed down at the time the 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power interconnector was disrupted. The tanker was transiting the Baltics on its way from St. Petersburg to Egypt.
The sources also indicated that Eagle S is under investigation for its possible role in severing three communications cables in the Gulf of Finland.
The vessel movement of Eagle S is very irregular and corresponds with the location and time of the damage to the Estlink 2 cables. pic.twitter.com/IpEUq13n3k— Kamsarmax (@cashsarmax) December 25, 2024
MarineTraffic data also shows the Finnish Border Guard's patrol vessel Turva escorted the tanker to waters off Porkkalaniemi, a peninsula on the Gulf of Finland, on Wednesday night.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo wrote on X that authorities were investigating the incident.
Orpo noted, "The interruption of the transmission connection will not affect the electricity supply of Finns."
Estonian public broadcaster ERR noted no power losses to citizens in either Estonia or Finland. The outlet cited local power officials who said enough spare capacity was on the grid to meet demand and avoid blackouts.
The Baltic Sea area has been on high alert for potential sabotage. Last month, a Chinese vessel was suspected of sabotaging the C-Lion 1 submarine cable connecting Helsinki and the German port of Rostock.
By Zerohedge.com
Finland-Estonia Power Cable Goes Dark, Prompting Sabotage Concerns
On Christmas Day, the EstLink2 subsea power cable between Finland and Estonia went dark, prompting speculation of a "hybrid" sabotage attack on subsea infrastructure in the Baltic.
At 1226 hours local time on Wednesday, the Finnish utility Fingrid detected an outage on the EstLink2, a DC power cable connecting Finland and Estonia. It is not known whether the disconnection occurred below the water or on land, and Fingrid is investigating. The cable has malfunctioned on its own in the past: in January, an internal short circuit took it offline for months.
"Nothing is ruled out, all stones and stumps are being turned and we will see what causes it. Yes, [sabotage] is also considered an option," a company spokesman told Finnish outlet Iltalehti. Backup power capacity is available, and the outage is not expected to have an immediate impact on the electricity supply for consumers and businesses.
Twice in the past year, Chinese-flagged vessels have almost certainly severed subsea cables on the Baltic seafloor by dredging their anchors for long distances, European investigators believe. Quietly, sources close to the inquiries have suggested that at least one of these vessels may have acted at the direction of Russian intelligence.
In the current geopolitical environment, attention has quickly turned to possible suspects for the latest outage. Future investigative targets could include the Chinese container ship Xin Xin Tian 2 and the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S, both of which were nearby at the time of the break.
Xin Xin Tian 2 was in the area, but her AIS track appears to show no signs of slowing or maneuvering over the site of the cable break. As of Wednesday night, the Chinese vessel had not altered course or speed and was still under way outbound in the Baltic.
Eagle S's last port of call was Ust-Luga, Russia. AIS data shows that she slowed down over the charted cable during the time period in question. The tanker later performed a round turn, took all way off and stopped in Finnish waters. She was joined by the Finnish Coast Guard patrol vessel Turva, a sign of a possible interdiction. Turva was also involved in the response to the Yi Peng 3 case in November, noted open source intelligence analysts.
Eagle S is an 18-year-old tanker that recently changed ownership, name and flag registry, and she is now tied to operating interests in India and the UAE. Combined with her recent call at a Russian oil port and recent inspection record, these factors may be associated with Russia-linked "dark fleet" operations.
Her last two port state control inspections recorded a combined 33 deficiencies, including issues related to watertightness, structural integrity, alarm systems, firefighting and electrical systems.
Finnish police have confirmed to Reuters that they are investigating the possibility of a vessel's involvement.
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