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Finnish authorities arrest two people in connection with sabotage of undersea telecommunications cables in Gulf Finland The incident occurred between the Finnish and Estonian capitals earlier this week, police said on Thursday.
The damage was discovered early Wednesday in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone. The cable belongs to Finnish telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered critical underwater infrastructure.
helsinki Police have launched an investigation into serious criminal damage, attempted serious criminal damage and serious interference with telecommunications.
Helsinki police said in a statement on Thursday that officials had imposed travel bans on two more people as a result of the ongoing investigation.
It is unclear how the men are connected to the ship, and police would not reveal their nationalities or other details.
The ship is called the Fitberg and flies the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It was originally from Russia to Israel. Fourteen crew members from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were detained by Finnish authorities.
Finnish national police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki said earlier this week that the ship had been dragging anchor for several hours when it was discovered in Finland’s exclusive economic zone. He noted that investigators were not speculating on whether state-level actors were behind the damage.
Finnish Customs finds structural steel in shipment originating from Russia and subject to sanctions European Unionthe agency said in a statement.
“In accordance with EU sanctions legislation, the import of such sanctioned goods into the EU is prohibited,” the statement said. “Finnish Customs continues to investigate the sequence of events and the applicability of EU sanctions legislation to this case.”
A crisscross network of undersea cables and pipelines connects northern, Baltic and central European countries and is one of Europe’s busiest shipping lanes. They promote trade and energy security and in some cases reduce dependence on Russian energy resources.
Finnish authorities last year charged the captain and two senior crew members of a Russia-linked ship, the Eagle S, for damaging an undersea cable between Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day 2024.
Finland’s deputy prosecutor general said in a statement in August that charges of serious criminal mischief and serious interference with communications were brought against the tanker’s captain, as well as the first and second officers. The unnamed officers denied the allegations, the statement said.
The Kremlin has previously denied any involvement in damaging infrastructure that provides power and communications to thousands of Europeans.
The Eagle S flies the flag in the Cook Islands, but Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission describe it as part of Russia’s shadow tanker fleet. These are aging vessels of unknown ownership, purchased during the war in Ukraine to evade Western sanctions and operating without Western-regulated insurance.
To the West, such incidents are seen as part of a wider sabotage attack across Europe, allegedly linked to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.