Finland Seizes Ship After Undersea Power Cable to Estonia Is Cut

The Finnish authorities on Thursday boarded an oil tanker that they believe was involved in cutting through vital undersea cables, and was part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of ships aimed at bypassing sanctions.

The Estlink 2 submarine cable, which carries electricity between Finland and Estonia, was cut on Wednesday, Finland’s police said in a statement, the latest in a slew of disruptions to undersea infrastructure that are being investigated as acts of sabotage. The Finnish authorities said Thursday that four other cables carrying data also had been damaged.

A number of other vital undersea cables have been cut in recent months, raising fears that Russia might be waging a shadow campaign against NATO nations that have supported Ukraine in the face of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.

Last month, two fiber-optic cables were cut in the Baltic Sea in what Germany’s defense minister described as an act of sabotage. One cable connected Finland and Germany; the other ran between Lithuania and Sweden — all members of the NATO alliance.

Russian ships have been reported in the Baltic and North Seas near areas where critical infrastructure lies beneath the waters, and dozens of Russian tankers have begun sailing under different flags to evade sanctions.

The police in Finland called the latest cable cuts “aggravated vandalism.” In a statement on Thursday, the police said authorities had seized the Eagle S tanker, which is registered in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. The ship was sailing from St. Petersburg, Russia to Port Said, Egypt when it entered Finnish waters.