Finland seized a Russian oil tanker suspected of cutting submarine cables

An undersea power cable between Finland and Estonia was cut on Christmas Day. Finland is fully convinced that Russia is guilty. On Thursday, Finnish authorities boarded an oil tanker that was part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to evade sanctions and accidentally ran over the EstLink 2 submarine cable when it stopped working. According to the Financial Times.

Per The Guardianthe incident happened at 12:26 a.m. local time on Wednesday, and Arto Pahkin, head of operations for Finland’s power grid, said immediately that sabotage could not be ruled out. Finnish officials also confirmed the damage at least three other cablesis potentially part of the same event.

This led to the seizure of the Eagle S oil tanker, registered in the Cook Islands but believed to belong to Russia. The ship’s tracking data shows it was carrying oil from Russia to Egypt, but apparently made room to cause some chaos along the route. Authorities believe the ship’s anchor, which could not be found on board, was used to cut cables.

Authorities believe Eagle S is part of Russia shadow fleetthe country has been using it to evade Western sanctions since the start of the war with Ukraine. The fleet is made up of old, dilapidated ships that Russia hides its rights to using a variety of methods, including labyrinthine control structures, frequent cargo transfers between ships, falsified data, disabling identification systems, and other schemes. It is assumed that the country operates 600 ships as part of the off-the-books oil business. As many of these vessels carry oil and are poorly maintained, they often violate modern safety standards and disregard regulations, resulting in additional damage. oil spills.

The Christmas Day cable cut is the latest in a series of cuts to undersea cables connecting NATO countries. Last month, two fiber-optic cables were connected in the Baltic Sea – one between Finland and Germany, and the other between Lithuania and Sweden.are cut off. These were also believed to be the work of Russia’s shadow fleet, which has made a habit of hovering near critical infrastructure facilities in the Baltic and North Seas. According to the New York Times.

While attacks on these cables have not yet resulted in any material damage, they have raised concerns about how this underwater infrastructure could be targeted in future conflicts. Reports suggested China has used similar tactics in the past, using boat anchors to damage submarine cables, it said. It is relative an easy attack to carry outbecause most cables are as thick as a garden hose and sit exposed on the seabed. Countries are exploring additional defenses for these key links to prevent future attacks.