By Charles Kennedy – Dec 26, 2024, 10:30 AM CST
Finland’s police and border patrol have boarded the Eagle S oil tanker, which is part of Russia’s shadow fleet while investigating the cause of an interruption of subsea power and data cables linking Finland with Estonia, Finnish police said on Thursday.
The tanker, Eagle S, was traveling in the Baltic Sea under the flag of the Cook Islands and was fully loaded with unleaded gasoline, the Finnish police and other authorities said at a news conference, as carried by Bloomberg.
The Eagle S was spotted to be missing its anchor and it could have been this missing anchor that has caused the damage to the subsea cable links.
The Estlink-2 power link went offline on Wednesday afternoon. By early Thursday afternoon investigations were ongoing in both Finland and Estonia on the cause of the damage.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna on Thursday discussed the incidents involving submarine infrastructure with Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen, Tsahkna said in a statement.
“Damage to critical submarine infrastructure has become so frequent that it is difficult to believe this is accidental or merely poor seamanship. We must understand that damage to submarine infrastructure has become more systematic and thus must be regarded as attacks against our vital structures,” the Estonian foreign minister said.
“Cant rule out deliberate damage to the cable,” Tsahkna posted on X.
Estonia is also in touch with its other allies and partners to coordinate international cooperation, the minister said, adding that identifying all circumstances related to the incidents required a joint effort from countries.
“In addition to circumventing sanctions, the shadow fleet is a security threat in the Baltic Sea and we cannot just sit and watch,” Tsahkna said.
The investigation is in its early stages, the foreign minister said on Thursday, but noted that it is positive that the Cook Islands-flagged vessel EAGLE S, which according to initial reports may have had an unsecured anchor, has been escorted into a Finnish port by the Finnish authorities.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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