Prosecutors in Finland have filed charges against crew members of a tanker suspected of damaging undersea cables in the Baltic Sea.
According to The Guardian, the captain and two senior officers of the Eagle Stanker face charges of aggravated sabotage and aggravated interference with telecommunications. The vessel is registered to the Cook Islands, and is believed to be part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of vessels that sail under foreign flags to avoid crude oil price sanctions.
The ship was said to have been transporting oil from Ust-Luga in Russia across the Gulf of Finland in December 2024, where prosecutors allege that it purposefully dragged its anchor along the seabed for more than 50 miles, and severed four communication cables. Finnish authorities estimate that the damage cost the cables’ owners at least €60 million ($70 million) in repairs, and caused “serious danger” to energy supply and telecommunications in Finland.
Defendants denied any wrongdoing in a statement to The Guardian, and asserted that Finland doesn’t have jurisdiction, “because the cable damage sites are outside Finnish territorial waters.”
The Helsinki district court will next decide on a date for a hearing as the case moves forward. The three suspects named in the case have also been under a travel ban since the investigation began.
