Finnish authorities believe a Russian tanker may have intentionally damaged a critical power cable connecting Finland and Estonia by dragging its anchor across the seabed.
A shadowy Russia n ship is suspected of sabotaging a key power cable by dragging its anchor across the Baltic Sea seabed for dozens of miles, Finnish authorities fear. Finnish police said they have found tracks along the seabed where a tanker carrying Russia n oil travelled. Anchor traces stretch more than 60 miles on the seabed, according to Finland ’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Baltic Sea nations have been on high alert after a series of outages of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. A break in the 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power cable between Finland and Estonia occurred at midday on Christmas Day, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 linking the two countries, grid operators said. Detective Chief Inspector Sami Paila from Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation said: 'The trail ends where the ship raised the anchor chain, and from there to the east stretches for several dozen, if not almost a hundred kilometres.' It has not yet been possible to establish where exactly the anchor was dropped but a search of the seabed will continue after the weather conditions improve. The crew, comprising citizens of India and Georgia, are facing questioning after the ship was held in the port of Kilpilahti. According to the Marine Traffic service, the Eagle S departed from the Russian port of Ust-Luga for Egypt but slowed down sharply while passing over the Estlink 2 cable on Christmas Day.Sami Rakshit, head of Finland’s customs agency, said: 'We assume at this stage that the vessel in question is a member of the shadow fleet
Russia Finland Estonia Power Cable Sabotage Baltic Sea Shadow Fleet
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