On Wednesday, Finnish authorities announced the seizure of a cargo ship suspected of damaging a telecommunications cable that connects Helsinki and Tallinn in the Gulf of Finland.

The Finnish Border Guard identified the vessel as the Fitburg, a 132-meter-long cargo ship registered under the flag of St. Vincent and Grenadines. It was en route from St. Petersburg, Russia, to Haifa, Israel, when it was intercepted.

Fourteen crew members from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan were taken into custody for questioning, as reported by National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimaki.

Russia’s embassy in Finland expressed its readiness to assist the detained Russian sailors.

According to Finnish police, the Fitburg is believed to be “responsible for the damage” to the data cable owned by the Finnish telecommunications company Elisa, located within Estonia’s exclusive economic zone.

Elisa indicated that it had detected a fault in the cable earlier on Wednesday and had informed Finnish officials, reassuring that services were rerouted and remained uninterrupted.

A patrol vessel and a helicopter from the Finnish Border Guard found the Fitburg within Finland’s exclusive economic zone, where its anchor chain was observed to be lowered into the water. Authorities instructed the ship to stop, lift its anchor, and proceed into Finnish territorial waters where it was subsequently seized.

Since the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western officials and security analysts have increasingly perceived suspected cable sabotage in the Baltic Sea as part of a wider strategy of “hybrid warfare” aimed at NATO nations.

“Finland is prepared to tackle various security challenges, and we will respond accordingly,” stated President Alexander Stubb in a message posted on X.

Finnish police are looking into the incident as “aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications.”

Robin Lardot, head of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, noted that a technical inspection of the Fitburg is underway and that authorities are in communication with the ship’s flag state.

Deputy Prosecutor General Jukka Rappe informed Finnish broadcaster Yle that he had initiated a preliminary criminal investigation, while emphasizing that an accidental cause has not been dismissed.

The police reported they are collaborating with several national and international agencies, including officials from Estonia.

On Thursday, Yle, referring to customs officials, shared that the Fitburg’s cargo included steel products that are under Western sanctions.

This seizure follows a similar event on Christmas Day 2024, when the oil tanker Eagle S, registered in the Cook Islands, dragged its anchor across the seabed, damaging five underwater cables in the Gulf of Finland.

In October, a district court in Helsinki determined it did not have jurisdiction to prosecute three senior officers from that vessel, stating that the case should be adjudicated by either the ship’s flag state or the countries of the defendants. Finnish prosecutors have appealed that decision.

Reporting by AFP contributed to this article.