Finnish police said Friday they were questioning four crew members aboard a ship suspected of damaging a telecommunications cable between Helsinki and the Estonian capital Tallinn.
On Wednesday, police detained the Fitburg, a 132-metre-long (433-foot-long) cargo ship en route from St Petersburg, Russia, to Haifa, Israel, following suspicion that the ship’s anchor had damaged the subsea cable in the Gulf of Finland.
It marks the latest instance of suspected undersea infrastructure sabotage in the Baltic Sea since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with many experts and Western leaders viewing the damage as part of a “hybrid war” waged by the Kremlin.
Police also detained the vessel’s 14 crew members, who are from Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.
Two crew members were placed under arrest and two others were placed under a travel ban, a police statement published Friday said, without identifying the individuals concerned.
Questioning of both suspects took place on Thursday and will continue on Friday, the statement added.
“The interviews have clarified the course of events and the different roles of the crew members,” Detective Superintendent Risto Lohi of the Finnish police said.
An examination by Finland’s transport and communications agency Traficom found that the Fitburg’s condition is “normal” for its age, showing only “minor” safety deficiencies, according to the statement.
The Fitburg was carrying Russian steel targeted by European Union sanctions when it was detained, Finland’s customs service said Thursday.
The cable damaged Wednesday is owned by Finnish telecoms group Elisa and located in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone. Elisa said its services were rerouted and the damage did not impact customers.