Finland investigates Russian ship after power outage

Finnish police are investigating whether a Russian ship is involved in the sabotage of an electric cable that runs between Finland and Estonia.

Authorities said Thursday they believe the anchor of the Eagle S, a Cook Islands-registered tanker, may have damaged the Estlink 2 cable, which went offline on Wednesday.

The vessel is considered part of the Russian “shadow fleet”, which consists of ships carrying embargoed Russian oil products..

Fingrid, Finland’s national grid operator, said Estlink 2 was still down but the damage “does not threaten the operation of the electricity system” in the country.

Repairs are expected to take “several months.”

“On our part, we are investigating a serious diversion,” said Robin Lardot, director of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Finnish President Alexander Stubb announced on X on Thursday that authorities had an “overview” of the cable breach.

He stressed the need to “prevent the risks” associated with ships that are part of the shadow fleet.

Finnish police said the case was being investigated as “aggravated hooliganism”.

The damaged cable had a transmission capacity of 650 megawatts and a length of 170 km, of which 145 km is an underwater cable. The fault was found on Thursday in the submarine cable.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said on Thursday that damage to critical underwater infrastructure has become “so frequent” that he questions the idea that the damage can be considered “accidental” or “simply bad sea quality”.

“We must understand that damage to underwater infrastructure has become more systematic and should therefore be seen as attacks on our vital structures,” Tsakhna said in a press release.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs added that the Eagle S was escorted to a Finnish port.

“In addition to evading sanctions, the shadow fleet is a security threat in the Baltic Sea, and we cannot just sit back and watch,” Tsakhna continued.