NATO member 'apprehends Russian ship' after critical undersea cable damaged

NATO member 'apprehends Russian ship' after critical undersea cable damaged

Lauran O'Toole

Finnish police say they have apprehended a ship suspected of damaging a critical undersea telecommunications cable connecting Finland to Estonia.

The cargo ship, FITBURG, travelling from Russia to Israel, was boarded and seized by Finnish authorities after its anchor chain was found deployed in the water, dragging it from Estonia to Finland. The vessel is suspected of sabotaging the Elisa submarine telecommunications cable. Police said: "Finnish authorities have taken control of the vessel as part of a joint operation." The ship, sailing under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines, had departed from St Petersburg, Russia, and was en route to Haifa, Israel, according to MarineTraffic data.

Finnish officials located the ship using data provided by Elisa, which had detected the fault in one of its submarine cables early on Wednesday morning.

Finland’s president confirmed the incident on X, stating that Finnish authorities had inspected a vessel suspected of damaging cables in the Gulf of Finland.

Alexander Stubb wrote: "We are monitoring the situation in close cooperation with the government.

"Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary."

The police have consulted the National Prosecutor's Office, which has issued a prosecution order.

Following consultations with the National Prosecutor’s Office, police have been granted a prosecution order.

The investigation is focusing on suspected aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications.

Estonian authorities have also been notified, and cross-border coordination is ongoing.