Finnish Authorities Seize Ship Suspected of Damaging Power Cable in the Baltic Sea

Finland's prime minister, Petteri Orpo. Photo: Fanni Uusitalo / Valtioneuvoston kanslia, brukt under CC BY 4.0-lisens (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.fi). The picture is compressed.

An undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia was damaged earlier in December, according to Finland's Prime Minister, Petteri Orpo. A day later, Finnish authorities detained a vessel, believed to be a part of Russia's "shadow fleet".

Sabotage Remains a Possibility

Arto Pahkin, the head of operations at Finland’s electricity grid operator, Fingrid, told Finnish broadcaster Yle that sabotage could not be ruled out as a cause.

Prime Minister Orpo confirmed that the damage has not affected Finland’s electricity supply.

“The authorities remain vigilant, even during the holiday season, and are investigating the situation,” he posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Fingrid confirmed that power flow through the EstLink 2 cable was interrupted at 12:26 PM local time.

On December 26, the Finnish Coast Guard boarded the Eagle S (IMO: 9329760), which was carrying Russian oil, and took command of the vessel. The ship was subsequently escorted into Finnish waters, according to a coastguard official who spoke during a press conference.

Patterns of Baltic Sea Cable Damage

The incident adds to a growing list of disruptions involving cables and energy pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

In mid-November, the Arelion cable between Sweden and Lithuania was damaged, followed by a similar incident involving the C-Lion 1 cable linking Finland to Germany, just south of Sweden’s Öland island.

Tracking data from ShipIntel and ShipAtlas indicated that the Chinese vessel Yi Peng 3 (IMO: 9224984) was in the vicinity of the cables when they were damaged. After a month-long deadlock, China invited representatives from Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Germany aboard while Chinese authorities conducted their own investigation.

Rising Tensions in the Baltic Sea

Tensions in the Baltic have been on the rise since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. European officials have suggested that some of these cable breaches could be acts of sabotage linked to the ongoing conflict. However, the Kremlin has firmly rejected such claims, calling them “absurd” and “laughable,” according to reports from the Guardian.

These incidents are reminiscent of the September 2022 explosions that severely damaged the Nord Stream pipelines, which carried Russian natural gas to Europe. Investigations into those underwater blasts have yet to determine the responsible parties.