A Finnish ship watched over the oil tanker Eagle S outside Porkkalanniemi, Finland, on Thursday in an image provided by the Finnish Border Guard.
Credit...Rajavartiosto, via Associated Press

What We Know About the Ship Finland Seized Over Fears of Russian Sabotage

Finland seized an oil tanker that authorities believe might have deliberately cut vital undersea cables. Finnish authorities believe the tanker may be linked to Russia.

by · NY Times

A day after the Finnish authorities seized an oil tanker suspected of severing vital undersea cables, NATO said on Friday that it would step up security in northern seas and the European Union threatened new sanctions against Russia amid growing concern about a covert campaign to sabotage European infrastructure.

The authorities in Finland said they had confiscated material from onboard the ship, the Eagle S, an aging oil tanker registered in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific. The vessel is being held under police and naval guard in the Gulf of Finland, the police said on Friday.

The authorities said the tanker might be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” which President Vladimir V. Putin has used to circumvent Western-imposed sanctions on Russian oil exports and to conduct acts of sabotage.

The five cables, including a cable that carries power from Finland to Estonia, as well as four other cables carrying data were damaged before the tanker was seized on Thursday. An analyst said the use of such tankers to intentionally sabotage European infrastructure would be an unusual escalation by Russia.

Here’s what we know about the seizure in the Baltic Sea.

Here’s what you need to know:

How did the seizure unfold?

Finland’s energy grid operator, Fingrid, alerted the police that an undersea power cable, Estlink 2, had been damaged on Wednesday. The power company had no idea what happened, but police officials suspected that it followed a pattern of similar incidents in the last year.

Moving quickly, the Finnish Police said they teamed up with the Finnish Border Guard, forming a special unit to investigate a ship they suspected of cutting the cable: the Eagle S.

After midnight on Thursday, lowered by military helicopters, the special unit boarded the ship, the police said. The Finnish officers took over the bridge and prevented the ship from sailing further. Officers then collected material and interviewed the ship’s captain and crew members, who were cooperative, the police said.

Soon afterward, leaders in Finland and Estonia said they believed that the cables were likely cut in an act of sabotage.

“If three similar incidents happen within a year, it can’t be a coincidence or accident,” Alexander Stubb, Finland’s president, said on Friday.

As the investigation continues, the ship remains under guard. As a Finnish Defense Forces missile boat and a Border Guard patrol vessel guard the ship, officers from the National Bureau of Investigations and other security authorities inspected the craft. Finnish customs authorities have also seized the ship’s cargo of fuel.

The Estonian Defense Forces said its navy had stepped up patrols around the remaining Estlink 1 cable to secure the energy connection to Estonia from Finland. The Estonian Navy is cooperating with its Finnish counterpart and the existing NATO naval mission in the region.

What do we know about the ship?

The Eagle S is a 70,000-ton crude oil tanker that is more than 750 feet long, according to shipping data. The condition of the ship, which was built in 2006, has raised safety concerns. In July, Lloyds List, a London-based maritime analytics company, raised concerns over the vessel’s safety record. The ship, the report said, was part of a fleet of 24 aging vessels all flying a Cook Islands flag, with opaque ownership structures.

The Eagle S is managed by Peninsular Maritime, a company based outside Mumbai, India. The company manages seven other vessels. A staff member not authorized to speak to the media said the Finnish authorities had not communicated with the company about the episode. The ship’s captain was complying with the investigation and had communicated with Peninsular Maritime headquarters, the staff member said.

The Eagle S is owned by Caravella, a shipping company based in the United Arab Emirates that specializes in transporting oil and gas, according to the company’s website. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

“It’s a sanctions evader, it’s really dangerous, it’s just a piece of rust bucket floating junk of steel,” said Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a principal analyst at Lloyds List who compiled reports on the Eagle S.

In September, the vessel transferred its shipping class to the Indian Register of Shipping from the American Bureau of Shipping, an oversight organization that monitors maritime safety standards, according to its database.

The shift may have been intended to avoid further scrutiny after the American bureau planned to investigate the Eagle S, Ms. Wiese Bockmann said.

Lauri Läänemets, Estonia’s interior minister, said it would be “naïve” to think that three incidents since October 2023 “could be merely a coincidence.”

“We know about Russia’s shadow fleet operating in our area, and we know Russia is systematically conducting hybrid warfare against its neighboring NATO/EU countries,” Mr. Läänemets said in an emailed comment to The New York Times. “It’s time to drop the illusions and face it: In the context of hybrid warfare, we must not only focus on military threats but also consider hybrid threats.”

What is Russia’s shadow fleet?

After Mr. Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union and its allies responded by imposing price caps on Russian oil transported by sea. The aim was to hobble Russia’s ability to finance its war effort by curbing revenue from its oil and gas sector.

To skirt the restrictions, the Kremlin invested billions of dollars in a fleet of mostly unmarked tankers not easily traced to Russia. These fleets, described as shadow, dark or gray fleets, employ all sorts of tactics to avoid detection or hide their true origin.

Now, nearly 70 percent of Russia’s oil is being transported by so-called shadow tankers, according to an analysis published in October by the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, a Ukraine-based think tank.

Many sail under the flags of other nations, like the Central African country of Gabon, and sell fuel to buyers in countries like India and China, which are not bound by the price cap. Vessels have also been known to jam their signals to hide their location.

The tankers’ ownership is also shifted from Russian companies under sanctions to new entities, which are often shell companies with opaque ownership, according to research by the European Commission.

The fleet also relies on ship-to-ship transfers, transferring liquid bulk cargo from one vessel to another in open waters. The transfer creates a huge environmental risk, which is exacerbated by the dilapidated ships, said Ms. Wiese Bockmann, of Lloyds List.

Still, this may be the first time a ship that is part of this shadow fleet has been taken into custody over suspected sabotage, Ms. Wiese Bockmann said.

How have NATO members responded?

Finland, which joined NATO in 2023, quickly called on its allies. Both Finland and Estonia asked NATO to beef up its security in the area to counter sabotage.

A stronger NATO presence in the Baltic Sea, especially around critical infrastructure, would support smaller states who now shoulder the burden of repairing European infrastructure after acts of sabotage like this, Finland’s president, Mr. Stubb, said.

The episode underscores growing insecurity in the Baltic Sea, with repeated incidents of severed cables, as well as reports of Russian oil tankers flying under different flags to avoid European Union sanctions.

“NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea,” Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary-general, said on social media. After a call with Mr. Stubb, Mr. Rutte also said NATO would support the Finnish-led investigation.

The European Commission, condemning the destruction of infrastructure and suspected actions by Russia, said it would propose targeted sanctions on Russia’s shadow fleet.

“The suspected vessel is part of Russia’s shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment, while funding Russia’s war budget,” the commission said in a statement. “We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to target this fleet.”

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