Finland Seizes Cargo Ship & Arrests 14 Crew After Undersea Cable Damage In Gulf Of Finland

Finnish authorities have seized a cargo vessel travelling from Russia and arrested its 14 crew members after an undersea telecommunications cable was damaged in the Gulf of Finland.

The ship, Fitburg, was sailing from St Petersburg to Haifa in Israel when it was intercepted on Wednesday by the Finnish Border Guard and police inside Finland’s exclusive economic zone.

Officials said the vessel was found dragging its anchor, which investigators believe is linked to the damage to the cable.

Finnish police said they have opened a criminal investigation into aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications.

The damaged cable is owned by Finnish telecoms company Elisa and is considered critical underwater infrastructure for Finland.

Elisa said it detected a fault in the cable and reported it to the authorities. The company later stated that the damage did not affect its services, as connections were rerouted through other systems.

All 14 crew members on board the Fitburg were arrested and detained for questioning. Investigators said the crew includes nationals of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.

The vessel is registered under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

The Finnish Border Guard said helicopters and patrol vessels were deployed after the damage was reported. Authorities added that the ship had been dragging its anchor for several hours before it was guided into Finnish territorial waters and taken under control.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Finland is prepared to respond to different kinds of security challenges when necessary. Police officials said they are not speculating on whether another country was involved.

In Estonia, authorities said a second telecommunications cable connecting the country to Finland also suffered an outage on Wednesday. Estonian leaders said it is not yet clear whether the incidents are linked.

Estonian officials also confirmed damage to another undersea cable owned by Swedish telecoms provider Arelion.

The company said one cable in the Gulf of Finland was damaged on Wednesday, while another cable between Sweden and Estonia was damaged a day earlier.

Arelion said it is working with authorities to determine the cause and that repairs will begin once weather conditions improve. Most customers were not affected.

The European Commission said it is closely monitoring the situation, while NATO confirmed it remains in contact with Finnish authorities through maritime coordination channels. NATO has increased its presence in the Baltic Sea in recent years using ships, aircraft and naval drones.

The Gulf of Finland, bordered by Finland, Estonia and Russia, has seen a series of similar incidents in recent years. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many analysts and political leaders have viewed damage to undersea cables and pipelines in the region as part of hybrid warfare.

On Christmas Day 2024, the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S damaged five undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland after dragging its anchor for about 90 kilometres along the seabed.

Finnish authorities later charged the ship’s captain and two senior officers, but in October, Helsinki’s District Court ruled it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case, saying it should be handled by the vessel’s flag state or the defendants’ home countries.

The Baltic Sea is one of Europe’s busiest maritime regions and is crossed by a dense network of cables carrying electricity and data between Nordic and Baltic countries.

References: aljazeera, BBC

Source: Maritime Shipping News