Finland impounds oil tanker suspected of breaking submarine cable

Finnish authorities on Thursday seized a tanker carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion that it was linked to an incident a day earlier in which an undersea cable connecting Finland and Estonia broke and four Internet lines were damaged.

A Finnish coast guard team boarded the Cook Islands-registered tanker Eagle S and instructed the crew to take it to Finnish waters, coast guard officials said at a news conference, Reuters reported.

Robin Lardot, head of Finland's National Bureau of Investigation, said: "We are investigating this incident of serious damage. According to our understanding, the damage was caused by the anchor of the tanker being investigated."

Finland's customs Service said it had seized the tanker's cargo and believed the Eagle S belonged to Russia's "shadow tanker fleet." Russia uses shadow tankers to sell crude oil to evade sanctions.

According to a press release issued by the Finnish police, the submarine cable rupture occurred within Finland's exclusive economic zone. The case is being treated as "major criminal damage" and is being investigated by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, with police working closely with their Estonian counterparts.

The Finnish government said in a press release Thursday that the failure does not pose a threat to Finland's electricity system for the time being and will have little impact on electricity prices in the short term.

Finnish Prime Minister Olpo stressed at a press conference on the same day that the incident is very serious, and Finland has communicated with Nordic countries, Baltic countries, NATO and the European Union on the matter. He said Finland should strengthen its capacity to respond to similar incidents and review relevant legislation to further improve emergency response.

Estonian Prime Minister Mechar on Thursday pledged full assistance to the Finnish-led investigation and said the Estonian navy would work with Allies to step up patrols around critical infrastructure.

In addition, Finnish media said Thursday that four undersea communications cables in the Baltic Sea area from Finland to other countries have failed. It is not clear if these failures are related to the transmission cable incident.

Olpo posted on social media on Wednesday (25) that the "Nordic Grid Company -2" submarine cable connecting Finland and Estonia suddenly interrupted power transmission on the same day, and the Finnish authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.