SpaceWar.com - Your World At War
Swedish navy recovers anchor of tanker suspected of Baltic Sea cable damage
Stockholm, Jan 7 (AFP) Jan 07, 2025
The Swedish navy said Tuesday it had recovered from the Baltic Sea the anchor of an oil tanker suspected of belonging to Russia's 'shadow fleet' and damaging four underwater telecom cables and one power cable on December 25.

Sweden sent a submarine rescue vessel to assist Finland in the investigation last week.

"The HMS Belos has located and lifted the anchor and handed it over to Finnish authorities," Swedish navy spokesman Jimmie Adamsson told AFP.

The Eagle S, flying the Cook Islands flag, is suspected of having damaged the EstLink 2 electricity cable between Finland and Estonia in the Baltic on December 25, putting it out of action.

Finnish police said on December 29 that they had found a trail from the anchor stretching dozens of kilometres (miles) along the seabed.

The national energy agency Fingrid said it had requested that authorities seize the tanker.

Finnish authorities have banned eight crew from leaving Finnish territory. Finnish customs have said they suspect the tanker, currently located east of Helsinki, is part of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" -- ships that carry Russian crude oil and petroleum products that are embargoed over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Finnish telecom operator Elisa said Monday that two of the damaged telecom cables had been repaired. The Estlink 2 power cable has not yet been repaired.

According to operator Cinia, one of the remaining telecoms cables -- running between Finland and Germany -- should be fixed by January 10.

In late December, NATO announced it would strengthen its military presence in the Baltic after similar incidents there since Russia's 2022 invasion.

Energy and communications infrastructure in particular have been targeted as part of what experts and politicians call Russia's "hybrid war" with Western countries.

The Baltic is surrounded by a number of NATO member states.

Two telecommunications cables were cut on November 17 and 18 in Swedish territorial waters.

A Chinese-flagged bulk carrier, the Yi Peng 3 is suspected of involvement.


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
NASA eyes SpaceX, Blue Origin to cut Mars rock retrieval costs
US company Firefly Aerospace to launch for Moon next week
Capture theory unveils how Pluto and Charon formed as a binary system

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Integrated spin wave storage advances quantum networks
New quantum sensing technology reveals sub-atomic signals
RoboForce secures $10M to launch AI-powered robotic workforce

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Trump says NATO members should raise defense spending to 5% of GDP
Scholz rejects drastic rise in German defence spending
Raytheon awarded $946M contract to deliver additional Patriot Defense Systems

24/7 News Coverage
Tiny plants reveal big potential for boosting crop efficiency
Rescuers search for survivors after quake in China's Tibet kills at least 126
The ancient copper industry in King Solomon's mines did not pollute the environment



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.