Latest news with #Eagle S
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Finland charges tanker crew members with sabotage of undersea cables
Finnish authorities have filed charges against members of the crew of an oil tanker suspected of damaging five undersea cables by dragging its anchor between Finland and Estonia. Finland's deputy prosecutor general's office said on Monday it had filed charges of aggravated sabotage and aggravated interference with telecommunications against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S. The Cook Islands-registered tanker is understood to be part of Russia's 'shadow fleet' – comprising vessels that sail under foreign flags to evade sanctions. The ship was carrying oil from Ust-Luga in Russia across the Gulf of Finland when, prosecutors allege, it dragged its anchor along the seabed for about 90km (56 miles) in December 2024. The incident was one of several suspected hybrid attacks on telecommunications services in the Nordic region at the end of last year, putting leaders on high alert and prompting accusations of infrastructure sabotage against Russia. Finnish authorities seized the Eagle S on 26 December last year when the border guard's emergency response team and police landed on the ship in the early hours of the morning. The seizure was lifted in February and the ship left Finland the following month. Damage to the cables had cost their owners, Cinia and Elisa, 'at least €60m in repair costs alone', the office of the deputy prosecutor general, Jukka Rappe, said in a statement. It added: 'The rupture of the extremely high-capacity electricity transmission and telecommunications cables is also suspected of having caused a serious danger to energy supply and telecommunications in Finland, although services have been secured by using alternative connections.' The defendants, it said, had denied any wrongdoing in the preliminary investigation. They believed that Finland 'does not have jurisdiction in the matter because the cable damage sites are outside Finnish territorial waters', the statement said. A lawyer for the United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, the owner of the Eagle S, has said previously that Helsinki lacked jurisdiction to intervene. Rappe disagreed, saying: 'The characteristics of the crimes,ie the dangers caused, occurred within the borders of Finland, even though the measures themselves were taken outside Finland.' He told the Guardian that the question of jurisdiction was 'one of the critical questions', but that 'the effects of the crime materialised here in Finland. That brings it to the jurisdiction of Finland, I think. But of course it is up to [the] district court to decide whether Finland has jurisdiction or not.' He said he hoped the trial would have an impact on investigations into other alleged cable-cutting incidents in the region over the last two years. Because of its geographical positioning, between Russia and the Baltic, Finland is particularly vulnerable. 'Finland is like an island because of the Baltic sea. All of our connections go via undersea cables to Sweden, Estonia and central Europe,' said Rappe. The indictment has been filed with the Helsinki district court, which will decide on a date for the hearing. The state prosecutor, special prosecutor and regional prosecutor have been assigned to prosecute the charges in court. The three suspects have been under a travel ban in Finland since the start of the investigation. Cinia and Elisa declined to comment.
Washington Post
8 hours ago
- Washington Post
Finland charges top officers of Russia-linked vessel that damaged undersea cables
HELSINKI — Finnish authorities said Monday they have charged the captain and two senior officers of a Russia-linked vessel that damaged undersea cables last year between Finland and Estonia. The Finnish deputy prosecutor general said in a statement that charges of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications were filed against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker. Their names were not made public. The statement said they denied the allegations.
Irish Times
8 hours ago
- Irish Times
Finland charges Eagle S tanker captain, officers over cable cuts
Finland 's national prosecutor's office said on Monday it had brought charges against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker over the cutting of undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland in December . The Georgian and Indian nationals are suspected of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications by dragging the ship's anchor for around 90km (56 miles) across the seabed, a prosecutors' statement said. The defendants, who are not permitted to leave Finland, have denied committing the offences and consider that Finland also lacks jurisdiction in the case as the incident took place outside Finnish territorial waters, it said. Finnish authorities have said the Cook Islands-registered Eagle S broke the Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia , as well as four internet lines. 'The owners of the cables have suffered a total of at least €60 million ($70 million) in immediate damage in the form of repair costs alone,' the prosecutors' office said. READ MORE The Baltic Sea region has been on high alert for sabotage after a string of outages of power cables, gas pipelines and telecoms, although subsea infrastructure is also subject to technical malfunctions and outages caused by accidents. [ 'Almost impossible' for Irish people to understand Baltic fear of Russian invasion, says ex-MEP Opens in new window ] The Eagle S disruption caused serious risks to energy supply and telecommunications in Finland, although services were secured via alternative connections, the prosecutors' statement said. A lawyer for United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, the owner of the Eagle S, has previously said Helsinki lacked jurisdiction to intervene in the case. The lawyer for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The prosecutors' office said a local court would set a date for hearing the case and, if necessary, determine whether it falls under Finnish jurisdiction. – Reuters
Reuters
9 hours ago
- Reuters
Finland charges Eagle S tanker captain, officers over cable cuts
HELSINKI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Finland's national prosecutor's office said on Monday it had brought charges against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker over the cutting of undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland in December. The Georgian and Indian nationals are suspected of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications by dragging the ship's anchor for around 90 km (56 miles) across the seabed, a prosecutors' statement said. The defendants, who are not permitted to leave Finland, have denied committing the offences and consider that Finland also lacks jurisdiction in the case as the incident took place outside Finnish territorial waters, it said. Finnish authorities have said the Cook Islands-registered Eagle S broke the Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia as well as four internet lines. "The owners of the cables have suffered a total of at least 60 million euros ($70 million) in immediate damage in the form of repair costs alone," the prosecutors' office said. The Baltic Sea region has been on high alert for sabotage after a string of outages of power cables, gas pipelines and telecoms, although subsea infrastructure is also subject to technical malfunctions and outages caused by accidents. The Eagle S disruption caused serious risks to energy supply and telecommunications in Finland, although services were secured via alternative connections, the prosecutors' statement said. A lawyer for United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, the owner of the Eagle S, has previously said Helsinki lacked jurisdiction to intervene in the case. The lawyer for the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday. The prosecutors' office said a local court would set a date for hearing the case and, if necessary, determine whether it falls under Finnish jurisdiction. ($1 = 0.8590 euros)
New York Times
11 hours ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Finland Charges Ship's Crew Members in Slashing of Undersea Cables
The Finnish authorities said on Monday that they have charged the captain and two other crew members of an oil tanker on suspicion of sabotage in relation to the cutting of vital undersea cables. The aging tanker, the Eagle S, was seized in late December by the Finnish authorities. They said at the time that the ship might belong to Russia's so-called 'shadow fleet,' a group of older tankers that covertly transport Russian crude oil around the world, raising concerns about a potential covert campaign to sabotage European infrastructure. The tanker was released in March and escorted back into international waters, but Finnish officials said at the time that eight crew members remained under investigation on suspicion of criminal offenses. On Monday, Finland's National Prosecution Authority said in a statement that the ship's captain, as well as the first and second officers, had been charged with 'aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications' in relation to the episode. The statement did not identify the three crew members, saying only that they had denied the accusations — which according to the authority appeared to involve dragging the ship's anchor on the seabed for miles and severing five cables in the Gulf of Finland. The severing of the cables last December came on the heels of a series of similar incidents. Western officials have long feared that Moscow's so-called shadow fleet could be used to circumvent sanctions imposed over the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the episodes of severed cables raised fears that it might also be used for sabotage. Russia, which has denied involvement in sabotage, had condemned the seizure of the Eagle S. The Finnish authorities on Monday declined to say if they still believed the Eagle S — which is registered in the Cook Islands and had been sailing from Russia to Egypt when it was detained — might belong to Russia's shadow fleet. In its statement, the National Prosecution Authority said the episode was suspected to have caused a 'serious risk to energy supply and telecommunications in Finland,' and had saddled the owners of the cables with at least 60 million euros (about $70 million) in repair costs.
