Law enforcement in Finland has reportedly seized a Russian cargo ship suspected of sabotaging undersea telecommunications cables running across the Gulf of Finland from the Scandinavian nation to Estonia.
Russian Cargoship Seized By Police
The ship, ‘Fitburg,’ which departed from St. Petersburg en route to Israel, was seized by the Finnish Border Guard, Reuters reported on Wednesday. The ship was sailing under the flags of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The crew consisted of 14 crew members hailing from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
The Helsinki Police Department and Finland’s Border Guard didn’t immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.
According to authorities cited in the report, the Fitburg was dragging its anchor in the sea. It was directed to Finnish territorial waters. The damaged cable belongs to Finnish telecoms group Elisa. Estonian authorities also confirmed that a cable sustained damage.
Estonian President Concerned By Incident
President of Estonia, Alar Karis, shared his concerns on X on Wednesday following the reports. “Hopefully it was not a deliberate act, but the investigation will clarify,” he said, adding that authorities from Estonia and Finland were working closely together to investigate the incident.
The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications didn’t immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.
Estonia and Finland are both members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and are allies of Ukraine, which has been in a state of conflict against Russia following the latter’s invasion of the country more than 3 years ago in 2022.
Trump Touts Ukraine Peace Deal
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has said that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia was “a lot closer,” following his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at Mar-a-Lago in Florida, though both leaders said the future of the Donbas region remains unsettled.
Garry Kasparov, Russian chess Grandmaster, on the other hand, criticized the presence of Trump’s allies during the meeting, including Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Trump’s son-in-law and former advisor Jared Kushner, “Is anyone going to come to represent America?” Kasparov said in a post on X.
Read Next:
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock/ Pudiq
