New telecommunications cable damage discovered in Finland’s exclusive economic zone.

Finnish authorities have seized a vessel suspected of intentionally severing undersea telecommunications cables amid fears of Russian sabotage in the Gulf of Finland.

The seized cargo vessel Fitburg was en route from the Russian port of St Petersburg ⁠to Israel at the time of the incident on Wednesday, Finnish Border Guard officials said at a news conference in Helsinki.

The Fitburg was dragging its anchor in ‌the sea and was directed to Finnish territorial waters, the police and Border Guard said.

Helsinki police opened an investigation into potential aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.

The Fitburg’s 14 crew members were from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and were all detained by Finnish police, investigators said. The ship sailed under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary,” Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a statement.

Part of the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Finland is bordered by Estonia, Finland and Russia. The area has been hit by a string of similar incidents in recent years.

The undersea cable belongs to telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered to be critical underwater infrastructure for Finland.

The company said in a statement the cable damage has “not affected the functionality of Elisa’s services in any way”, noting services have been rerouted. Earlier, Elisa said it had detected a fault in its cable and reported it to Finnish authorities.

NATO has boosted its presence in the Baltic with frigates, aircraft and naval drones in recent years.

“We remain in contact with the Finnish authorities through exchange of information via the NATO shipping centre located at our Allied Maritime Command in Northwood, UK,” an official at the military alliance said.

A deliberate act?

Estonia’s Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs said a second telecoms cable connecting ‌the country to Finland also suffered an outage on Wednesday. It’s unclear whether the incidents are related.

“I’m concerned about the reported damage. … Hopefully it was not a deliberate act, but the investigation will clarify,” Estonian President Alar Karis said on X.

Energy and communications infrastructure, including underwater cables and pipelines, have been damaged in the Baltic Sea in recent years.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many security analysts and political leaders have viewed cable sabotage as part of a “hybrid war” carried out by Russia against NATO countries and their allies.

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

In October, Helsinki’s District Court ruled it did not have jurisdiction to hear a case against the ship’s three senior officers. It said it was up to the vessel’s flag state or the defendants’ home countries – Georgia and India – to try them

Finnish prosecutors have appealed the ruling.