Finland seizes ship sailing from Russia after suspected cable sabotage

"Finnish authorities have seized a vessel suspected of intentionally severing undersea telecommunications cables amid fears of Russian sabotage in the Gulf of Finland. The seized cargo vessel Fitburg was en route from the Russian port of St Petersburg to Israel at the time of the incident on Wednesday, Finnish Border Guard officials said at a news conference in Helsinki. The Fitburg was dragging its anchor in the sea and was directed to Finnish territorial waters, the police and Border Guard said."

"Helsinki police opened an investigation into potential aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications. The Fitburg's 14 crew members were from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan and were all detained by Finnish police, investigators said. The ship sailed under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines. Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a statement."

"The area has been hit by a string of similar incidents in recent years. The undersea cable belongs to telecommunications service provider Elisa and is considered to be critical underwater infrastructure for Finland. The company said in a statement the cable damage has not affected the functionality of Elisa's services in any way, noting services have been rerouted. Earlier, Elisa said it had detected a fault in its cable and reported it to Finnish authorities."

Finnish authorities seized the cargo vessel Fitburg after discovering damage to an undersea telecommunications cable in Finland's exclusive economic zone. The Fitburg, en route from St Petersburg to Israel, was dragging its anchor and was directed into Finnish territorial waters. Helsinki police opened an investigation into potential aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications. The vessel's 14 crew members, from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, were detained; the ship sailed under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines. The damaged cable belongs to Elisa and is critical infrastructure; services were rerouted and functionality was not affected. NATO has increased Baltic presence and exchanged information with Finnish authorities.

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