A data cable between Helsinki and Tallinn owned by Finnish telecom firm Elisa was damaged on Wednesday. Finnish authorities, acting in a joint operation, took control of a vessel suspected of causing the damage, the police said.
When the vessel was spotted, its anchor chain was hanging in the water.
The 132-metre cargo vessel, named Fitburg, is flagged in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean. While the ship does not appear on official sanctions lists, the sanctions-monitoring platform Open Sanctions has previously highlighted Fitburg as a vessel of interest.
According to the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic, the vessel is off the coast of Porkkala. According to the site, the ship was en route to Haifa, Israel from St Petersburg, Russia.
Fitburg was intercepted by the Border Guard patrol ship Turva and a helicopter in Finland's exclusive economic zone, while the cable damage reported by Elisa is located in Estonia's economic zone.
In a post on social media site X, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) said that he has spoken with Estonia's PM, Kristen Michal, about the incident.
"Our authorities are working in good cooperation," Orpo's post read.
The police have consulted the National Prosecutor's Office, which has issued a prosecution order.
Police are investigating the incident as aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.
14 crew detained
At a multi-agency press conference on Wednesday afternoon, National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki said that the Fitburg was seized at around 11am that day.
There were 14 crewmembers aboard the ship, who were taken into custody, he said.
According to Koskimäki, the crew members are citizens of Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
He said the case is being investigated by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), noting that the authorities were well prepared for Wednesday's incident, due to their previous experience with damaged cable incidents.
Speaking to Yle, Orpo said he did not want to speculate about whether Russia was somehow involved in the damaged cable. He said it would be best to allow investigators to find out what happened.
"After that, we can draw conclusions," he said.
Déjà-vu?
Last Christmas, an oil tanker called Eagle S dragged its anchor along the seabed, damaging several undersea cables between Finland and Estonia. The captain of the vessel claimed the incident was accidental.
Following a trial this past autumn, Helsinki District Court said it lacked jurisdiction in the case.
At 1pm on Wednesday, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a post on X that the country "is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary."
Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) meanwhile posted on X that multi-agency cooperation was functioning efficiently and "in good collaboration with the authorities of other countries".
Deputy Prosecutor General Jukka Rappe told Yle he has instructed the NBI to open a preliminary probe into the Fitburg incident. However, he noted that all scenarios are possible and that the cable damage might have been accidental.
