The EU on Thursday threatened further sanctions against Russian vessels after Finland said it was probing an oil tanker that sailed from a Russian port for the “sabotage” of a power cable linking the country and Estonia.
On Christmas Day, the Estlink 2 submarine cable that carries electricity from Finland to Estonia was disconnected from the grid, just over a month after two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
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“We commend the Finnish authorities for their swift action in boarding the suspected vessel. We are working with the Finnish authorities on the ongoing investigation,” the European Commission and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said.
“We strongly condemn any deliberate destruction of Europe’s critical infrastructure. The suspected vessel is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia’s war budget,” they added in a joint statement. “We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to target this fleet.”
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The shadow fleet refers to ships that transport embargoed Russian crude and oil products. There have been several similar incidents in the Baltic since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
The EU said in response to the incidents that it was “strengthening efforts to protect undersea cables, including enhanced information exchange, new detection technologies, as well as in undersea repair capabilities, and international cooperation”.
EU countries agreed earlier this month to blacklist around 50 more oil tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet”, used to circumvent Western sanctions over the Ukraine war. The move was part of a 15th package of sanctions to be imposed by the 27-nation bloc since Moscow’s invasion.
Robin Lardot of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation said a probe for “aggravated sabotage” had been opened into the oil tanker Eagle S, that flies under the flag of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.
“The assumption at the moment is that it is a shadow fleet vessel and the cargo was unleaded petrol loaded in a Russian port,” said Sami Rakshit from Director General of Finnish Customs.
“We monitored the situation closely yesterday” with Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Finnish President Alexander Stubb on X. “The risks posed by the Russian shadow fleet must be ruled out,” he added.
The Eagle S is bound for Port Said in Egypt and still located in the Gulf of Finland, according to the Marine Traffic website. “We have already boarded the vessel, spoken with the crew and gathered evidence,” said Lardot.
Police suspect that the oil tanker’s anchor might have damaged the power cable.
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