Finland Seizes Russian Ship Suspected of Cutting Undersea Cables in the Baltic

What Happened?

Finland’s customs service seized a Russian cargo vessel named Eagle S on the Baltic Sea yesterday.

Finnish authorities believe the ship belongs to Russia's so-called shadow fleet of tankers. A group of older merchant ships being used by the Russian government to evade international sanctions by transporting and illegally selling Russian oil.

Two fiber-optic cables owned by Finnish operator Elisa, linking Finland and Estonia were cut. A a third link owned by Chinese company Citic was damaged, Finnish transport and communications agency Traficom said.

A fourth internet cable connecting Finland and Germany, belonging to Finnish group Cinia was also thought to have been severed by the Russian ship.

Why it Matters

The seizure of a Russian ship by Finnish authorities will likely increase tensions in the Baltic Sea. Not only between Russia and Finland, but between Russia and all Baltic nations, plus all members of the NATO alliance.

According to  Essi Lehto and Andrius Sytas of Reuters, ‘Baltic Sea nations are on high alert for potential acts of sabotage following a string of outages of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines since 2022, although subsea equipment is also subject to technical malfunction and accidents.’

After the seizure of the Russian ship, Estonia’s Defense Minister proposed a joint patrol by Finnish and Estonian military assets, posting a comment on X saying, ‘Not just with Finland, but with all of our allies, really. The Finns are discussing this today, and I believe they will join us. Additionally, we agreed yesterday that NATO will engage on a military level.’

Shortly after the statement by Estonia’s Defense Minister, the Secretary General of NATO issued a statement saying, ‘NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea.’

Russian authorities have sought to downplay the incident, saying ‘the seizure of a ship carrying Russian oil is of little concern for Moscow.’ Russia continues to deny involvement in any of the past incidents of cable and undersea infrastructure damage in the Baltic Sea.

How it Affects You

The Baltic Sea is one of the major potential flash points that could trigger a conflict between NATO and Russia. Russian and NATO ships and planes already operate in close proximity in the Baltic. The addition of more NATO assets to the region will make an already tense area even more crowded with military assets from several different nations.

A single mistake by naval or air forces of any side could provide a pretext for military action.

To date, no European nation has been able to offer any concrete evidence linking Russia to undersea infrastructure damage in the region. If Finnish authorities can provide specific evidence connecting the Russian government to the cutting of undersea cables in the Baltic, it would be a major embarrassment for Russia and could further inflame European sentiment against Moscow.