The Finnish Border Guard published a video showing the Fitburg depicts the intrusion and seizure of a cargo ship after the ship is identified as a suspect in the destruction of an undersea telecommunications cable owned by the Elisa company.
According to the authorities, the ship was escorted to the port of Kantvik under increased security measures on Wednesday.
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The failure of the cable was recorded at 04:53, triggering a large-scale operation involving the Border Guard, police and defense forces. Three helicopters took part in the operation, one of which deployed the SIU special unit of the Finnish Border Guard directly onto the ship.
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Authorities said the Fitburg and its entire crew remain under state supervision. The sailors — including Russian, Georgian, Kazakh and Azeri nationals — are being held on board while the investigation continues.
The case is being treated as serious damage to property and interference with telecommunications, the preliminary investigation is being conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation.
The ship flies the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and departed Saint Petersburg on December 30. Authorities have confirmed that the ship’s anchor remained in the water for several hours, which they consider a relevant circumstance for the investigation. According to Elisa, the connection was maintained via backup routes, so the immediate impact on users was minimal.
On the same day, Estonia and Sweden also announced that additional undersea fiber optic cables had been damaged in the Baltic Sea. In the Swedish economic zone it is Arelion one of the company’s cables connecting Estonia to Sweden is affected.
Authorities recalled that another cable between Finland and Estonia had been damaged earlier, adding to regional concerns about the safety of critical undersea infrastructure.
Source and images: Rajavartiolaitos – Gränsbevakningsväsendet – Finnish Border Guard (Facebook: rajavartiolaitos). The content is created with the help of artificial intelligence and verified by the editors.
