Investigators find anchor drag mark on Baltic seabed following cable damage

Investigators in Finland probing damage to a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables said they found an anchor drag mark on the seabed, apparently from a Russia-linked vessel that has already been seized for investigation.

The Estlink-2 power cable, which transmits energy from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, went down on December 25 after an evident rupture.

It had little impact on services but followed earlier damage to two data cables and the Nord Stream gas pipelines, both of which have been termed sabotage.

Finnish police chief investigator Sami Paila said late Sunday the trail dragged for dozens of miles.

“Our current understanding is that the drag mark in question is that of the anchor of the Eagle S vessel. We have been able to clarify this matter through underwater research,” Mr Paila told Finnish national TV broadcaster Yle.

“I can say that we have a preliminary understanding of what happened at sea, how the anchor mark was created there,” Mr Paila said, without providing further details.

He also stressed that the “question of intent is a completely essential issue to be clarified in the preliminary investigation, and it will be clarified as the investigation progresses”.

On Saturday, the vessel was escorted to inner anchorage in the vicinity of the port of Porvoo, to facilitate the investigation, officials said.

It is being probed under criminal charges of aggravated interference with telecommunications, among other things.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday that “sabotage in Europe has increased” since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ms Kallas told German newspaper Welt that the recent “sabotage attempts in the Baltic Sea are not isolated incidents” but “part of a pattern of deliberate and co-ordinated actions to damage our digital and energy infrastructure”.

She vowed that the EU would “take stronger measures to counter the risks posed” by vessels of Russia’s shadow fleet.

The Eagle S vessel is flagged in the Cook Islands but was described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission as part of Russia’s shadow fleet of fuel tankers.

Those are ageing vessels with obscure ownership, acquired to evade western sanctions on Russia amid the war in Ukraine and operating without western-regulated insurance.

Russia’s use of the vessels has raised environmental concerns about accidents given their age and uncertain insurance coverage.

“Russia’s shadow fleet threatens the environment and fills Russia’s war chest. Now these ships are also suspected of carrying out acts of sabotage,” Ms Kallas said.

In the wake of the cable rupture, Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte said last week that the military alliance, which Finland joined last year, will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region.

Finland, which shares an 832-mile border with Russia, abandoned its decades-long policy of neutrality and joined Nato in 2023, amid Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The Finnish coast guard said on Monday that another tanker ship heading for a Russian port has engine failure and drifted, then anchored in the Gulf of Finland south of the Hanko Paninsula. The guard said it was notified on Sunday night.

Registered in Panama, the M/T Jazz was en route to Primorsk, Russia, from Sudan, with apparently no oil cargo. Finnish authorities have dispatched a tugboat and a patrol ship to ensure that the vessel does not drift and to prevent any damage to the environment.

Regional director of the coast guard, Janne Ryonankoski, said there was no immediate risk to the seabed infrastructure.