Special forces in Finland have seized a Russian shadow fleet tanker believed to have carried out a destructive attack on a set of power and internet cables in the Baltic Sea.
The Eagle S is suspected of causing damage to the Estlink-2 power cable, which takes electricity from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, after it went down just after noon on Christmas Day.
Finnish police said on Thursday that they believe the vessel’s anchor, which they did not find on the ship, cut the cables.
“We must be able to prevent the risks posed by ships belonging to the Russian shadow fleet,” said Finland’s President Alexander Stubb in a post on X after a meeting with security chiefs on Thursday.
Eagle S was intercepted in Finland’s exclusive economic zone and taken to Finnish territorial waters, police said.
The shadow fleet is a group of old and often poorly maintained ships used by Russia to circumvent international sanctions on its oil exports.
The Christmas Day incident appears to be the latest in a series of pipelines and cables being targeted in the Baltic Sea by foreign vessels, sparking fears of deliberate attacks on critical infrastructure between Nato countries.
Posting on X, Jakub Janda, director of European Values Center for Security Policy, praised Finland’s response, saying “bold and direct action” is what is needed to deal with “international terrorists”.
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