HELSINKI — Finnish authorities boarded and seized a cargo vessel suspected of damaging undersea communications infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, detaining its multinational crew as investigators probe what they called aggravated criminal offenses.
Police said the ship, identified as the Fitburg and sailing under the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, was directed into Finnish territorial waters after it was observed dragging its anchor. Fourteen crew members — citizens of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan — are being held for questioning.
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The suspected damage involves a subsea cable owned by Finland’s Elisa, one of the country’s main telecommunications providers. Estonia’s justice ministry separately reported an outage on a second cable connecting Estonia and Finland, operated by Sweden’s Arelion. Authorities said it was not immediately clear whether the lines run in parallel or were affected by the same incident.
“At this stage, the police are investigating the incident as aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications,” Finnish police said. They did not allege intent and did not say whether the outage was caused by negligence or deliberate action.
Marine Traffic data showed the Fitburg had departed St. Petersburg, Russia, and was en route to Haifa, Israel. Police did not specify where along that route the cable damage occurred.
The Baltic Sea has become a security focal point since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Eight NATO members border the relatively shallow waterway, which is dense with critical infrastructure — power interconnectors, data cables and pipelines — that have suffered a series of outages and suspected tampering in recent years.
NATO has stepped up its presence with frigates, aircraft and naval drones to monitor the seabed and protect key links. A spokesperson for the military alliance declined to comment on the Fitburg case.
Political leaders urged caution as investigations got underway. “I’m concerned about the reported damage … Hopefully it was not a deliberate act, but the investigation will clarify,” Estonian President Alar Karis said on X. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said he was monitoring the situation and that Finland “is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary.”
The incident echoes a high-profile inquiry last year involving the Russian-linked oil tanker Eagle S, which Finnish authorities said damaged a power cable and multiple telecom links after dragging its anchor. Finland boarded the Eagle S in December 2024, though a Finnish court in October later dismissed a criminal case against the captain and crew, finding prosecutors had not proved intent and ruling that any alleged negligence must be pursued by the ship’s flag state or the crew’s home countries.
Investigators have not detailed the extent of the Elisa cable outage or provided a timeline for repairs. Elisa and Arelion were not immediately available for comment. The precise location and depth of the damage also remain undisclosed, a common practice in ongoing maritime criminal investigations.
Undersea cables carry the bulk of Europe’s internet and financial traffic and are notoriously difficult to secure across long distances. Anchor strikes are a known hazard in congested shipping lanes, but the region’s heightened geopolitical tensions have added urgency to efforts to harden and surveil these networks.
As the probe advances, Finnish police said further statements would be issued when available. It was not clear when the Fitburg’s crew might be released or whether the vessel would be permitted to continue its voyage.
By Abdiwahab Ahmed
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
