Finland Seizes Russian-Linked Oil Tanker Suspected of Severing Baltic Sea Power and Internet cables

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Finland last week seized an oil tanker that was taking oil to Russia after Finnish authorities suspected the Russian-linked vessel of involvement in “grave sabotage” by severing power and internet cables in the Baltic Sea on Christmas Day, Sky News reports.

Nations around the Baltic Sea, including Estonia and Finland have been on high alert for acts of sabotage since the Baltic connector gas pipeline linking Finland and Estonia was damaged last year.

The ship seized on Wednesday, December 25 was named as the Eagle S Panamaz, Sky News said. The vessel is understood to belong to a shadow fleet of ageing Russian tankers that try to evade sanctions on the sale of Russian oil.

The Eagle S is suspected of causing the outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia as it crossed the Estlink 2 electricity cable at 10.26am on Wednesday, the same time Finland reported a power outage, Sky News said in its report.
The tanker is also suspected of involvement in the severance of three internet lines and the damaging of a fourth, Sky News said.

In a statement after a Finnish coastguard crew boarded the Eagle and sailed it Finnish waters, Robin Lardot, director of the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, said in a statement: “From our side we are investigating grave sabotage. According to our understanding, an anchor… has caused the damage.”

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