The crew of an oil tanker accused of sabotaging undersea cables in the Baltic Sea was preparing to damage more cables and pipes when Finnish authorities boarded the ship, the head of the Finnish-led investigation said, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the Baltic states have been hit by a series of outages of power lines, telecommunications links and gas pipelines.
Leaders of NATO member states that have access to the Baltic Sea will gather in Helsinki tomorrow to discuss the alliance's collective action in response to the threat.
On On December 26, Finnish authorities detained the tanker Eagle S, carrying Russian oil, on suspicion of damaging the Finnish-Estonian power cable Estlink 2 and four telecommunications cables. According to investigators, the Eagle S caused the damage by dragging its anchor along the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
The head of the investigation, Risto Lohi, told Reuters that at the time of the tanker's detention, there was a risk that it would sever another power cable - Estlink 1 - as well as the BalticConnector gas pipeline connecting Finland and Estonia.
Lohi added that there was an "almost imminent danger" other cables and pipes, part of Finland's critical underwater infrastructure, could also be damaged. The head of the investigation also noted that a ninth member of the Eagle S crew has been added to the list of suspects banned from traveling. "We have questioned the crew and currently there are nine suspects," Lohi said. "Naturally, our priority is those whose tasks and responsibilities include the navigation of the ship and anchor operations," the head of the investigation stressed.
Earlier this month, Finland said that eight of the 24-member crew had been banned from traveling. The ship's captain is Georgian and the crew members are citizens of India and Georgia.
Finland and other Baltic countries suspect that in November the Chinese bulk carrier Yi Peng 3 (Yi Peng 3) has severed two underwater fiber optic communication cables in the same way - dragging its anchor. Swedish Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said on Sunday that authorities had determined that there was a risk that the Chinese ship could have severed a power line that connects the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.
"There have been traces of an anchor, probably on the "Yi Peng 3", also in connection with the "NordBalt" cable," Bohlin told reporters. The minister explained that this cable connects Sweden and Lithuania. "This clearly illustrates the seriousness of the situation we are in," he warned.