Captain of ship detained for damaging submarine cable involved in arms shipments from Iran to Russia

The captain of the vessel, which Finland detained due to damage to the submarine cable, is involved in the supply of weapons from Iran to Russia.

This is reported by “Toronto Television”.

Thus, according to the Helsingin Sanomat publication, the captain of the FITBURG vessel is 56-year-old Andrei Maksimenko from the Saratov region, a resident of Astrakhan.

The OSINT department of Toronto Television analyzed data on Maksimenko in merged databases. According to the information received, from the beginning of 2022 to mid-2023 alone, he made at least 14 voyages between Russia and Iran on the KALEVALA vessel.

The vessel sailed between Astrakhan and the Iranian ports of Enzeli, Amirabad, Nowshehr and Feridunkinar, which are under EU sanctions due to their involvement in the supply of weapons and military technology.

The KALEVALA operated under the Russian flag until October 2019, and is currently sailing under the flag of Iran. According to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the vessel is operated by the Russian company Salmi Shipmanagement LLC, registered in Astrakhan. The company has already appeared in the GUR reports as being involved in the supply of weapons to the Russian Federation.

The representative of the Central Criminal Police of Finland, Risto Lohi, did not officially confirm that Captain Andrey Maksimenko is currently on the list of persons who have been banned from leaving the country as part of the investigation into the damage to the cable. Of the 14 crew members, only one was taken into custody – the boatswain, a citizen of Azerbaijan, whose name is not being disclosed.

Earlier, USM reported that Finland had released the vessel suspected of damaging the submarine cable.