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Agence France-Presse

Finnish police said on Wednesday they had seized a vessel suspected of damaging a telecommunications cable that runs between Helsinki and Tallinn in the Gulf of Finland several hours earlier.
No details about the identity of the vessel were disclosed.
The 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, police said in a statement.
Part of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland is bordered by Estonia, Finland and Russia.
Elisa had early Wednesday 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.
Finnish police said they were investigating the incident as “aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications”.
Police said they were cooperating with several national and international authorities, including those in Estonia.
Energy and communications infrastructure, including underwater cables and pipelines, have been damaged in the Baltic Sea in recent years.


Eight Nato states border the sea, which also borders Russia.
They ‍have been on high alert after a string of outages of power cables, telecoms ‍links and gas pipelines that run along the relatively shallow seabed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 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.
Nato has boosted its ‌presence in the Baltic with frigates, aircraft and naval drones.
“Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a statement on X on Wednesday.
Finland in December 2024 boarded the Russian-linked oil tanker Eagle S which investigators ‌said had damaged a power cable and several telecoms links in the Baltic Sea by dragging its anchor.
A Finnish court in October dismissed ‌a criminal case ‌against the Eagle S captain and other crew members, ruling prosecutors failed to prove intent and that any alleged negligence must be pursued by the ship’s flag state or the crew’s home countries.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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News

World

Europe

Various energy and telecommunications infrastructure has been hit in recent years, with many leaders and experts suspecting Russia


Various energy and telecommunications infrastructure has been hit in recent years, with many leaders and experts suspecting Russia.


Crime

Estonia

Alexander Stubb

Finland police say ship seized after cable damage between Helsinki and Estonia’s Tallinn

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Various energy and telecommunications infrastructure has been hit in recent years, with many leaders and experts suspecting Russia

Various energy and telecommunications infrastructure has been hit in recent years, with many leaders and experts suspecting Russia