This Thursday, the Finnish Border Guard detained and escorted a man to Finnish territorial waters. oil tanker from Russia. He was in the area when the electrical connection between Finland and Estonia was interrupted this Wednesday, according to local media.
The ship, according to the Finnish authorities, could belong to what has been called the “Russian shadow fleet”: former vessels with which Russia would export millions of barrels of oil to avoid western sanctions. He was traveling from the city of Saint Petersburg to Egypt, added the British publication Lloyds List.
According to global ship tracking website MarineTraffic, the ship in question, the ‘Eagle S’, which flies the Cook Islands flag, noticeably slowed down passing over the cable at approximately the time the transmission was interrupted.
According to the Finnish Border Guard, the ship’s anchors They were not in their placewhich has raised suspicions among the authorities. Officials said that based on the preliminary investigation, there is reason to believe that the ship’s anchor caused the damage.
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Finland will respond decisively to any suspected interference against its underwater infrastructure. Authorities have also reported disruptions in a total of four cables telecommunications networks connecting Finland with the Baltic Sea.
According to Arto Pahkin, director of the Fingrid Main Grid Control Center, the damaged area is located on the finnish side of the cable, so Fingrid is responsible for the repair. Pahkin estimated that repairs could take up to seven months.
Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said at a press conference in Tallinn that will consult with the secretary general of NATOMark Rutte, on the organization’s increased presence in the Baltic, after Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets called the damage to undersea cables an “attack, because it is an attack on our critical infrastructure.”
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