Finland Says Tanker Held Over Cut Cables Won’t Face Separate Sanctions Probe

In early January, the ship was found unseaworthy and barred from sailing.

Finnish Customs said Thursday that its Economic Crime Investigation Unit had completed a preliminary investigation into whether there “was reason to suspect the crew of the ship Eagle S of having committed an aggravated regulation offence”.

While the authority said the “unleaded petrol and diesel carried by the ship” were classified as “products subject to the sanctions against Russia”, it said it would not start a criminal investigation as the ship had not intended to enter Finnish territorial waters.

“The interviews carried out during the preliminary enquiry show that the ship had entered Finnish territorial waters at the request of Finnish authorities, so the crew cannot be considered to have intentionally brought the fuels to Finnish territorial waters, thereby violating the sanctions legislation,” Finnish Customs said.

The authority added that the ship would remain detained “for the time being.”

On December 25, the EstLink 2 electricity cable and four telecom cables linking Finland and Estonia that lie on the Baltic seafloor went offline after suspected sabotage.

The incident occurred just weeks after other cables in the Baltic Sea were severed in similar incidents that experts and politicians say are part of a “hybrid war” between Russia and Western countries.

Finnish authorities have banned eight crew members from leaving Finnish territory pending the police investigation, which is still ongoing.

Police said on December 29 they had found a drag trail stretching dozens of kilometres along the seabed.

Investigators suspect the cables were damaged after the tanker’s anchor — which police say was recovered in early January — was dragged over them.

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