Finnish authorities have detained the oil tanker Eagle S, flagged under the Cook Islands, on suspicion of damaging submarine cables, Yle news reported on Thursday. According to the country's police and maritime authorities, the damage includes the EstLink 2 energy cable between Finland and Estonia.
The tanker, owned by UAE-based firm Caravella, was intercepted on December 25 near the Gulf of Finland and escorted into Finnish territorial waters for investigation.
The vessel, allegedly part of Russia's "dark fleet," was en route from St. Petersburg to Egypt and reportedly slowed down over the cable's location when the outage occurred. Finnish grid operator Fingrid stated the damage is on the Finnish side, with repairs potentially taking seven months.