On Christmas Day, an undersea power cable running between Finland and Estonia was disconnected. Finland is convinced that Russia is to blame. On Thursday, Finnish authorities boarded an oil tanker, part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to evade sanctions, which was accidentally spotted passing over the EstLink 2 submarine cable when it stopped working, the Financial Times reports.
According to The Guardian, the incident occurred at 12:26 local time on Wednesday, and Arto Pahkin, the head of the Finnish power grid, immediately said that sabotage could not be ruled out. Finnish authorities also confirmed that at least three other cables were damaged, possibly part of the same incident.
This led to the arrest of the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S, believed to be Russian-owned. Tracking data on the vessel indicates that it was transporting oil from Russia to Egypt, but apparently made room to cause some chaos along the route. Authorities believe that a ship’s anchor was used to cut the cables, which was not found on the ship.
Authorities believe that the Orel S is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which the country has been using since the beginning of the war with Ukraine to evade Western sanctions. The fleet consists of old, rickety vessels whose ownership is concealed by Russia using a variety of methods, including labyrinthine management structures, frequent transfer of cargo between vessels, falsification of information, disabling identification systems, and other schemes. The country is believed to operate around 600 vessels as part of its informal oil business. Because many of these vessels carry oil and are poorly maintained, they often violate modern safety standards and ignore regulations, leading to additional damage, including oil spills.
The Christmas Day cable cut is just the latest in a string of incidents in which submarine cables connecting NATO countries have been severed. Last month, two fiber optic cables were cut in the Baltic Sea, one between Finland and Germany and the other connecting Lithuania and Sweden. This is also believed to be the work of Russia’s shadowy fleet, which, according to the New York Times, has a habit of appearing near critical infrastructure in the Baltic and North Seas.
While the attacks on these cables have not yet led to any tangible disruptions, they have raised concerns about how this undersea infrastructure could be targeted in future conflicts. Reports indicate that China has employed similar tactics in the past, using boat anchors to damage submarine cables. Such an attack is relatively easy to carry out, as most cables are the thickness of a garden hose and lie on the exposed seabed. Countries are exploring additional means of protecting these key communications elements to prevent future attacks.
