The Police of Finland said in a statement that the Finnish telecommunications company Elisa reported a fault on a cable between Helsinki and Tallinn early on the morning of December 31. 

The Finnish authorities then boarded a suspected vessel located in the country's exclusive economic zone using a helicopter and took control. It was detained at around 11 a.m.

The Police said the "vessel's anchor chain was found to be lowered into the sea" and the Border Guard ordered the ship's crew to "raise the anchor. The agency requested that the vessel move into Finnish territorial waters.

"At this stage, the police are investigating the incident as aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage, and aggravated interference with telecommunications," the police said.

Caribbean flag

Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that the name of the detained ship is Fitburg.

According to the vessel tracking website Marinetraffic, Fitburg is sailing under the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean. The ship is owned and operated by ALBROS SHIPPING & TRADING, a Turkish company based in Istanbul.

Finland's public broadcaster, Yle, reported the ship does not appear on official sanctions lists but "sanctions-monitoring platform Open Sanctions has previously highlighted Fitburg as a vessel of interest."

The ship was sailing from St. Petersburg to Israel, according to Marinetraffic.

The Finnish authorities said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that 14 crew members had been taken into custody. They are citizens of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. The authorities would not share the captain's nationality.

They said the anchor had apparently been dragging behind the ship for several hours.

This is the latest in a series of broken cables in the Baltic Sea since October 2023 connected to vessels transporting Russian oil and evading Western sanctions. The last cable break affecting Estonia was on December 25, 2024.

Ministry: Two cables were on Wednesday

Estonia's Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs said the damage on Wednesday was detected at around 5 a.m.

It said two cables had been damaged, one belonging to Elisa and the second to telecoms company Arelion.

"The causes of the damage to the two cables between Estonia and Finland this morning are currently being investigated," the ministry said in a statement.

Speaking about the Elisa cable, the ministry said: "At the time of the damage, a vessel was moving from the Estonian EEZ into the Finnish EEZ and was subsequently detained by the Finnish Border Guard."

Additionally, between December 28-30, several faults were detected on three undersea cables between Estonia and Sweden, and Estonia's mainland and its island, Hiiumaa. These cables are owned by CITIC, Arelion and Telia. This damage is currently being attributed to a recent storm.

The ministry confirmed that Estonian connections are sufficiently secured through other submarine and terrestrial cables.

PM: Initial information suggests it was not a shadow fleet vessel

Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) told ERR that Finland is trying to determine the circumstances of the incident and what the crew has said about it.

"The initial information is that it's not a ship from the shadow fleet, but information is still being gathered. We'll likely know more in the second half of the day," he said.

Michal said Finland stopped the ship in coordination with Estonia. The countries have already prepared for similar scenarios together, he added.

After the circumstances are determined, the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board and the Finnish Border Guard, together with the prosecutors, will decide who will launch an investigation, the prime minister said.

 "If the circumstances indicate that an investigation is needed, whether the cable was damaged by the ship, by the anchor, for some other reason, or if the damage was caused by storm-related factors. That ship is currently being inspected in Finland," Michal said.

Minister of Defense Hanno Pevkur (Reform) told news portal Delfi he has been in contact with counterparts in Finland, Sweden, and Latvia and that the situation is currently under control. "The Finns are dealing with the ship," he added.

President Alar Karis said he was "concerned" about the reported damage. "Hopefully it was not a deliberate act, but the investigation will clarify," he wrote on social media.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) reiterated that Finland and Estonia were cooperating closely. "Estonia's connectivity is fully ensured through other cables, and all services continue without disruption," he wrote.

Elisa: Damage will not disrupt the communication connection

Elisa said the broken cable will not affect Elisa's services in Finland or Estonia.

"The outage may have affected individual customers who have rented live broadcast connections from the cable. We are in communication with these customers and are using other cables to restore their connection," Elisa said.

The company is preparing to repair the cable.

Minister of Justice and Digital Affairs Liisa Pakosta (Eesti 200) said Estonia's external internet connections are duplicated, and other sea cables or land cables running to Latvia can be used.

"This system ensures the resilience of our cross-border internet connection and information systems in any situation," she said.

Official: Damage may not be intentional 

Tõnu Grünberg, deputy secretary general for digital infrastructure and cybersecurity at the ministry, told ERR it is not yet possible to say if the damage was intentional.

He said three of the five damaged cables may have been caused by the recent storm.

"On the Hiiumaa–Sweden route, there are two [damaged] international cables, one belonging to Arelion and the other to CITIC Telecom, and then one Arelion cable between Läänemaa and Hiiumaa, which is also damaged but is not an international cable. These are likely storm-related damages, but a technical assessment will be needed to definitively determine what caused the damage," he said.

However, the situation is more suspicious with the two communications cables between Estonia and Finland that were damaged on Wednesday. Grünberg said these cables are located fairly close to each other, and the damage to both occurred around the same time.

"So, there could be a connection here, and this certainly needs to be determined through investigation," he added.

He also acknowledged the damage may not have been intentional.

"It may not be intentional, even if it was caused by an anchor – this has happened quite often historically. But of course, we also know of cases where it has very clearly been done deliberately by the shadow fleet. In this case, we have no basis to say whether it was that ship, or that anchor, or whether it was intentional or not. But there is definitely reason to investigate, and the Finnish side is doing so. Our police and prosecution are in contact with them, so that Estonia can join the investigation if necessary," he said.

Editor's note: The ship's flag state has been corrected.

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