If the Russian “shadow fleet” tanker “Eagle S”, which has the flag of the Cook Islands, had continued on its way, it would have also damaged “EstLink 1” within half an hour and “Balticconnector” within an hour, the Finnish newspaper “Helsingin Sanomat” reports.
Damage to “EstLink 1” would significantly weaken Estonia’s electricity supply.
“Helsingin Sanomat” reconstructed the course of events based on information provided by anonymous sources.
On December 25, shortly before 1:00 p.m., the Gulf of Finland coast guard control center in Helsinki received information from the state power grid company “Fingrid” that the electricity cable connection between Finland and Estonia had been interrupted at 12:26 p.m.
The control center identified four possible vessels that could have been at the location and time of the damage. Then attention was drawn to one of them – a cargo ship in poor condition named “Eagle S”.
It left at 5:30 a.m. from the Russian port of Ustjluga. Weather conditions were favorable and visibility was sufficient, but as the vessel approached EstLink 2, its speed decreased significantly. The tanker appeared to have dropped anchor.
The Finnish authorities were aware that the anchor could cause damage. In November, the “C-Lion-1” communication cable between Finland and Germany and the “Arelion” telecommunication cable connecting Sweden and Lithuania were damaged in the Swedish economic zone. The involvement of the Chinese ship “Yi Peng 3” in damaging the cables is suspected.
On December 25, two helicopters took off from Vantaa airport and headed towards the Gulf of Finland. A more than 200-meter-long cargo ship with 35,000 tons of gasoline was in Finnish territorial waters.
Helicopters of the Finnish Defense and Border Guard Forces with armed policemen from the special unit “Karhu” and the special units of the Coast Guard of the Gulf of Finland rose above the ship. About twenty men lowered themselves onto the deck by rope.
The Finnish authorities ordered the anchor to be raised, but it was discovered that it had been torn off, but even just an anchor chain, which is hundreds of meters long and weighs thousands of kilograms, can damage underwater infrastructure. The vessel complied with the orders of the Finnish authorities to proceed to Finnish territorial waters. On December 26 at 00:18 Finnish authorities took control of the ship.
According to the information of “Helsingin Sanomat”, the responsible authorities were ready to take action even if the ship did not comply and continued to drag the anchor chain along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. The ship’s crew members are citizens of Georgia and India.
The Eagle S is known to belong to the so-called shadow fleet, which Russia uses to circumvent sanctions on oil exports. Officially, the cargo ship flies the flag of the Cook Islands. In the Indian Shipping Register, its owner is “Caravella LLC FZ”, a United Arab Emirates-based company whose history is largely shrouded in mystery. The company’s address matches the address of a luxury hotel in Dubai.
Throughout the operation, the Finnish authorities also had the political support of President Alexander Stubbs and Prime Minister Peteri Orpo.
Meanwhile, the maritime news portal “Lloyd’s List”, citing anonymous sources, reported that the “Eagle S” had a lot of spying equipment.
“The high-tech equipment on board was unusual for a merchant ship and was drawing more power from the ship’s generator, causing repeated blackouts,” a source told the publication on condition of anonymity.
The source said the listening and recording equipment was brought onto the tanker in “huge portable suitcases” along with “numerous laptops” containing Turkish and Russian keyboards, making calls to Turkey and Russia.
“They monitored all NATO naval ships and aircraft,” Lloyd’s List found.
As of Saturday morning, the Eagle S has been brought to port on Finland’s Porkala peninsula and investigative activities are underway. The ships are suspected of damaging EstLink 2 and four other communication cables in the Gulf of Finland.
Stubbs said Friday that it was too early to determine whether the cable damage could be linked to the Russian hybrid outbreak. He said that there has been no diplomatic response from the Russian side so far.
NATO has agreed to increase its presence in the Baltic after the incident, the latest in a series of cable and pipeline severing in the region by ships with ties to Russia and China.