On Wednesday (December 31), local time, a submarine cable connecting Helsinki, Finland, and Tallinn, Estonia, was severed, and Finnish authorities have detained a vessel suspected of damaging the cable.
The Finnish Prosecutor General’s Office has filed a lawsuit against the vessel, accusing it of causing serious damage, attempting to cause serious damage, and serious disruption of telecommunications.
This incident took place on New Year’s Eve, just over a year after the Russian vessel “Eagle S” damaged the EstLink2 power cable and the adjacent underwater communication cable in the Gulf of Finland on Christmas 2024.
At 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning, the Finnish telecom company Elisa detected a fault in their underwater cable connecting Helsinki and Tallinn, with the damaged area located within Estonia’s exclusive economic zone. The company promptly reported the issue to the Finnish Border Guard Command Center.
The Border Guard Command Center immediately launched an investigation and located the suspected vessel within Finland’s exclusive economic zone. The vessel’s anchor chain had fallen into the sea.
The Border Guard Command Center instructed the vessel to stop and raise its anchor chain, proceeding to a safe anchorage within Finland’s territorial waters.
Finnish authorities have seized the vessel through a joint operation. Responsibility for the incident has been transferred from the Finnish Coast Guard to the Helsinki Police Department.
To investigate this matter, Finland is closely collaborating and exchanging information with domestic and international agencies, including Estonia.
According to local Finnish media reports, Elisa stated that the fault will not affect overall services but could impact the transmission speed for users connected directly through the underwater optical cable. The company’s security officer mentioned that repair work has commenced, but a repair timeline is yet to be established pending an assessment of the extent of the damage.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb confirmed the incident on social media, stating that Finnish authorities have inspected a vessel suspected of causing cable damage in the Gulf of Finland.
“Finland is prepared to respond to various security challenges and will take necessary measures as needed,” he wrote.