Russian-linked tanker tugged to shore for suspected Baltic Sea sabotage

A tanker transporting Russian oil that is suspected of cutting Baltic Sea cables has been tugged to port as NATO announced it would step up patrols in the region.

Finnish authorities seized the tanker, named as the Eagle S, earlier this week after suspecting the vessel had damaged an undersea power line and four telecoms cables.

Baltic nations are on alert after a string of outages of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Finnish police believe the Eagle S may have caused the damage to undersea cables the previous day by dragging its anchor along the seabed.

“The police begin an operation to transfer the Eagle S tanker from the Gulf of Finland to Svartbeck, an inner anchorage near the port of Kilpilahti,” the Helsinki police department said in a statement on Saturday.

This would be a better place to carry out investigations, it added.

Finland’s customs service believes the ship is part of a “shadow fleet” of ageing tankers being used to evade sanctions on the sale of Russian oil.

On Friday, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region.

In a post on X, Rutte said that he had spoken to Finland’s President Alexander Stubb “about the ongoing Finnish-led investigation into possible sabotage of undersea cables.” Rutte said that “NATO will enhance its military presence in the Baltic Sea.”

The Kremlin said on Friday that Finland’s seizure of the ship was of little concern to it. In the past, Russia has denied involvement in any of the Baltic infrastructure incidents.