Finland: Siltanews – News Desk
The Finnish authorities reacted quickly and decisively after the suspected sabotage of undersea cables, boarding a suspicious ship in the Baltic Sea. Europe must be prepared to follow this example.
It only took Finland’s security forces a few hours to act. On Dec. 25 at exactly 12.26 p.m., a malfunction occurred in the Baltic Sea on the Estlink 2 submarine cable, which connects the power grids of Finland and Estonia. That evening, the Finnish Border Guard patrol vessel Turva contacted the oil tanker Eagle S, which was on its way to Egypt from the Russian port of Ust-Luga. Shortly after midnight on Dec. 26, security forces took control of the ship.
The Eagle S is suspected of having deliberately damaged the Estlink 2 power cable and other submarine cables. The oil tanker is said to have slowed down and made several unusual maneuvers at the site of the damaged cable. When Finnish authorities boarded the ship, they found that the anchors were missing. The Eagle S sails under the Cook Islands flag, but it is thought to be part of the Russian shadow fleet, which transports oil out of Russia.
This was not the first time that a ship has damaged an undersea cable in the Baltic Sea – suspicions of sabotage by Russia loom large. But the case of the Eagle S is different. This time, Finland responded quickly and decisively, which has not always been the case.
In mid-November, two data cables were damaged. Suspicion fell on the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which was briefly detained but has since sailed to Port Said in Egypt.