Baltic cable damage: new evidence emerges

Finnish police have discovered a trail of an anchor tens of kilometers long on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

The Central Criminal Police of Finland reported that a trail of an anchor was found on the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. The length of the furrow reaches several tens of kilometers, Yle writes.

However, it has not yet been possible to establish the exact place where the offending vessel dropped the anchor. The study of the seabed is complicated by bad weather.

“The trail ends at the point where the vessel lifted the anchor chain. From this point to the east, the trail of the drag extends for several tens, and possibly almost a hundred kilometers,” comments police inspector Sami Paila.

Now the police already have a preliminary idea of ​​​​the circumstances of the incident.

“We assume that this trail was left by the anchor of the Eagle S vessel. This was established thanks to underwater research. The work was carried out in cooperation with the Border Guard Service and the Central Criminal Police. I can say that we already have a preliminary understanding of what happened at sea and how this trace arose,” says Paila.

As a reminder, the Russian shadow fleet tanker Eagle S is suspected of damaging the Estlink 2 power cable and four communication cables on December 25. The Central Criminal Police detained the vessel near the city of Porvoo. The tanker’s crew, which includes citizens of Georgia and India, are being interrogated.

Also, as USM recently wrote, in response to the damage to the submarine cable, the EU is preparing new sanctions against the Russian fleet.