Authorities are investigating damage to an undersea telecommunications cable in the Gulf of Finland that occurred early on Wednesday between the capitals of Finland and Estonia.
Finnish authorities seized and inspected the vessel suspected of causing the damage, the border guard said in a statement.
Its anchor was lowered when it was discovered in Finland’s exclusive economic zone.
The Fitburg ship was sailing under the flag of St Vincent and Grenadines and had departed from the Russian port of St Petersburg, a police spokesperson said.
According to MarineTraffic data it was headed for Haifa in Israel.
Police said 14 crew members are currently being held for questioning and reported their nationalities as Russian, Georgian, Kazakh and Azerbaijani.
Helsinki police have opened an investigation into potential aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.
The cable belongs to telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered to be critical underwater infrastructure.
The damage occurred in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone, police said.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb thanked all the agencies involved in the operation in a post on X.
“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,” he wrote.
Estonian authorities are cooperating with their Finnish counterparts to decide whether they should initiate a separate criminal case or move forward in a joint prosecution.
The justice ministry in Tallinn said that a second telecoms cable connecting the country to Finland, operated by Swedish company Arelion, was also damaged on Wednesday.
Similar incidents
In December 2024, Finnish authorities boarded the Russian-linked oil tanker Eagle S which investigators said had damaged a power cables and telecommunications links in the Baltic Sea by dragging its anchor along the seabed.
That case was dismissed by a Finnish court in October after prosecutors failed to prove intent.
There are eight NATO countries bordering the Baltic Sea, which also borders Russia, and they have been on high alert following a string of incidents which saw undersea power cables, telecoms links and gas pipelines damaged.
Those incidents have generally been regarded as deliberate acts of sabotage suspected of being linked to Russia and have prompted NATO to boost its presence in the region with patrol frigates, aircraft and naval drones.
Additional sources • AP