‘Aggravated disruption’: Finland seizes Russia-bound cargo ship suspected of undersea cable damage; 14 crew members detained

Finnish police on Wednesday seized a cargo vessel sailing from Russia on suspicion of sabotaging an undersea telecommunications cable linking Helsinki and Estonia across the Gulf of Finland.

Authorities said the ship, identified as "Fitburg", was travelling from Russia’s St Petersburg port to Israel at the time of the seizure.


"At the moment we suspect aggravated disruption of telecommunications and also aggravated sabotage and attempted aggravated sabotage," Helsinki chief of police Jari Liukku said, as cited by Reuters.

Investigators said the Fitburg had 14 crew members from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, all of whom were detained by Finnish police. The vessel was sailing under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

According to LSEG data, the ship is owned by Fitburg Shipping Company Ltd and managed by Albros Shipping and Trading Ltd.

Finnish police said the damage was to an undersea cable owned by Finnish telecoms group Elisa and occurred in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone. The Gulf of Finland, where the incident took place, is bordered by Estonia, Finland and Russia and forms part of the Baltic Sea.

In a statement, Elisa said the damage had “not affected the functionality of Elisa’s services in any way,” adding that services had been rerouted. The company said it detected a fault in the cable early on Wednesday and reported it to Finnish authorities, as reported by the Guardian.

Energy and communications infrastructure, including undersea cables and pipelines, have suffered damage in the Baltic Sea in recent years.

On Christmas Day in 2024, the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S damaged five cables in the Gulf of Finland after dragging its anchor along the seabed for about 90 kilometres (56 miles).