The Daily Baku
International
Finland detains vessel over suspected damage to Baltic Sea cable
December 31, 2025
17:17
Finnish police said on Wednesday they had taken control of a ship suspected of damaging an undersea telecommunications cable linking Helsinki with Estonia’s capital, Tallinn, across the Gulf of Finland. The area has seen a series of suspected sabotage incidents in recent years,
“The Daily Baku” reports that Authorities said the vessel was seized during a joint operation, but declined to disclose its name, flag or details about the crew.
The Baltic Sea, bordered by eight NATO member states as well as Russia, has been under heightened security scrutiny following repeated disruptions to power lines, telecoms cables and gas pipelines laid on its shallow seabed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In response, NATO has increased its presence in the region, deploying warships, aircraft and naval drones.
According to police and Finland’s Border Guard, the ship believed to be responsible was dragging its anchor along the seabed and was escorted into Finnish territorial waters. The damaged cable is owned by Finnish telecommunications company Elisa.
President Alexander Stubb said he was closely following developments, stressing that Finland is ready to deal with a wide range of security threats and will act when required.
The incident follows a similar case in December 2024, when Finnish authorities boarded the Russian-linked oil tanker Eagle S after investigators concluded it had damaged a power cable and several telecoms links in the Baltic Sea while dragging its anchor.
However, in October a Finnish court dismissed criminal charges against the Eagle S captain and crew, ruling that prosecutors had failed to prove intent and that any negligence claims should be handled by the ship’s flag state or the crew’s home countries.
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