Finnish police seize cargo ship suspected of cutting Gulf of Finland cable

The Fitburg, a 132m-long cargo ship, is anchored in the harbour after being seized by Finnish authorities in Kirkkonummi. Photo / Roni Rekomaa, Lehtikuva, AFP

Finnish police say they have seized a vessel suspected of damaging a telecommunications cable that runs between Helsinki and Tallinn in the Gulf of Finland several hours earlier.

The Finnish coastguard identified the vessel as the Fitburg, a 132m-long cargo ship bearing a flag from St Vincent and Grenadines, en route from St Petersburg, Russia, to Haifa, Israel.

Fourteen crew members from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan were detained and were to be questioned, national police commissioner Ilkka Koskimaki told reporters at a press conference.

The seized ship is suspected of being “responsible for the damage to the cable”, which is owned by Finnish telecoms group Elisa and located in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone, Finnish police said in a statement.

Part of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland is bordered by Estonia, Finland and Russia.

Elisa said in a statement the cable damage had “not affected the functionality of Elisa’s services in any way”, noting that its services had been re-routed.

Elisa had earlier detected a fault in its cable and reported it to Finnish authorities.

A Finnish border guard patrol vessel and helicopter located the suspected vessel in Finland’s exclusive economic zone, and its anchor chain was found to be lowered into the sea, police said.

The border guard instructed the vessel to stop and raise anchor, and ordered it to move and anchor in Finnish territorial waters.

Energy and communications infrastructure, including underwater cables and pipelines, have been damaged in the Baltic Sea in recent years.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many experts and political leaders have viewed the suspected cable sabotage as part of a “hybrid war” carried out by Russia against Western countries.

“Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a statement posted to X.

‘Possible crime’

The head of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, Robin Lardot, said a technical investigation of the ship was underway.

Police were also in contact with the ship’s flag state, he said.

Finnish police said they were investigating the incident as “aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications”.

Deputy Prosecutor General Jukka Rappe told Finnish broadcaster Yle he had ordered a preliminary investigation into the case, to be carried out by the National Bureau of Investigation.

“The cargo ship is suspected of having cut the data cable in circumstances where it now seems obvious that there is also a possibility of a crime,” he said.

He did not, however, exclude the possibility of an accident.

Police said they were co-operating with several national and international authorities, including those in Estonia.

On Christmas Day 2024, the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S cut five cables in the Gulf of Finland after dragging its anchor on the seabed for around 90km, damaging five undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland.

In October, Helsinki’s district court ruled it did not have jurisdiction to hear a case against the ship’s three senior officers.

It said it was up to the vessel’s flag state or the defendants’ home countries – Georgia and India – to try them.

Finnish prosecutors have appealed the ruling.

- Agence France-Presse