Finland's alarm level red: oil tanker after cable damage under control!

Finland's alarm level red: oil tanker after cable damage under control!

Ostsee, Finnland - Finnish authorities have brought a Russian oil tanker under control as part of an investigation due to suspected sabotage. The tanker, which drives under the flag of the cook islands and is considered part of the so-called "shadow fleet" of Russia, is suspected of having damaged a Untersee stream cable between Finland and Estonia. The ESTLINK 2 electricity connection, which has a capacity of 658 megawatts, has been out of operation since Wednesday. According to Fingrid, the repair could take months, which raises serious concerns in view of the winter months, since only a reduced connection line remains active.

Investigations into severe sabotage

The Finnish coast guard intervened and took command of the ship, which was intervened on Thursday, under the name "Eagle S". "We investigate because of severe sabotage," said the responsible officer Robin Lardot. It is believed that an anchor from the tanker has caused the damage to the submarine cable. Several telecommunications cables in the region are also affected, which heats up the political discussion in both countries and triggers emergency meetings of the governments. This is not the first incident of this kind; In the past two years there have been various disorders of important infrastructures in the Baltic Sea, which are often associated with Russia, so Welt.de .

The Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal is in close contact with the Nordic neighbors to evaluate the situation. This concern is reinforced by the increasing willingness to alert in the region after several failures have been reported since 2022 that could have a negative impact on energy and communication supply. The Finnish police also investigate with regard to the damage to the "BalticConnector" pipelines and other telecommunications lines because there is a suspicion that ship anchors could have caused damage. krone.at reports that the situation could be critical due to the unfavorable weather conditions and the already tense energy supply during the winter.