OSLO (Reuters) – Finnish police said on Sunday they had found tracks stretching several kilometers off the coast of the Baltic Sea where a tanker carrying Russian oil is suspected to have breached a power line and four anchor cables.
The Cook Islands-registered Eagle S boarded Finnish police and coast guard officers on Thursday and went into Finnish waters where the crew of the seized vessel were questioned.
The Baltic Sea nations have been on alert after the outage of power lines, telecom links and gas pipelines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. NATO said on Friday it would increase its presence in the region.
A break in the 658 megawatt (MW) Estlink 2 power line between Finland and Estonia occurred at noon on Wednesday, leaving only the 358 MW Estlink 1 connecting the two countries, grid operators said. They say Estlink 2 may not be back in service before August.
The Finnish police suspect that Khozi S caused the damage by dragging the anchor into the sea.
Investigators have identified a “trail of towing” but have not yet found the missing anchor, Sami Paila, strategic leader and chief inspector of Finland's Bureau of Investigation, said in a statement.
“The track is miles long,” Paila said.
Photos taken from the Eagle S on Friday showed the vessel missing its side anchor.
Finland's customs service believes the vessel is part of a “shadow fleet” of aging tankers used to evade sanctions on Russian oil exports.
The Kremlin said on Friday that the seizure of the Finnish ship was of little importance to it.
Russia has denied involvement in any previous cases of damage to Baltic facilities.