Finland Stops Russian Vessel  12/26 08:34

   

   FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Finnish authorities have detained a Russia-linked 
ship as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and 
several data cables, according to police and news media reports, in the latest 
incident involving disruption of key infrastructure.

   Finnish police and border guards boarded the vessel, the Eagle S, just past 
midnight Thursday and took over the command bridge, Helsinki Police Chief Jari 
Liukku said at a news conference. The vessel was intercepted in Finland's 
exclusive economic zone and taken to Finnish territorial waters, police said.

   The Eagle S is flagged in the Cook Islands but was described by Finnish 
customs officials as a suspected part of Russia's shadow fleet of fuel tankers, 
Yle television reported. Those are aging vessels with obscure ownership, 
acquired to evade Western sanctions over the war against Ukraine and operating 
without Western-regulated insurance.

   The Eagle S's anchor is suspected of causing damage to the cable, Yle 
reported, relying on police statements.

   The Estlink-2 power cable, which brings electricity from Finland to Estonia 
across the Baltic Sea, went down just after noon on Wednesday. The incident 
follows damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of 
which have been termed sabotage.

   The Estonian government was holding a extraordinary meeting on the issue 
Thursday, Prime Minister Kristen Michal said on X.

   Two data cables -- one running between Finland and Germany and the other 
between Lithuania and Sweden -- were severed in November. Germany's defense 
minister said officials had to assume the incident was "sabotage," but he did 
not provide evidence or say who might have been responsible. The remark came 
during a speech in which he discussed hybrid warfare threats from Russia.

   The Nord Stream pipelines that once brought natural gas from Russia to 
Germany were damaged by underwater explosions in September 2022. Authorities 
have said the cause was sabotage and launched criminal probes.

   Estonian network operator Elering says there was enough spare capacity to 
meet power needs on the Estonian side, public broadcaster ERR said on its 
website.