Finnish investigators suspect Baltic Sea cable damage was intentional

Authorities in Finland investigating an oil tanker that severed multiple subsea cables on Christmas Day said on Wednesday they suspect the damage was done intentionally.

In an interview with the Finnish public broadcaster YLE, the lead investigator, Chief Inspector Risto Lohi, said the National Bureau of Investigation “suspects intent, but is still evaluating it.”

The tanker itself, the Eagle S, is being detained at the oil port of Kilpilahti in Porvoo, east of Helsinki, while investigators examine the ship and question the crew as part of a criminal investigation. Nine of the crew have been issued with travel bans to-date, an investigative tool short of outright arrest.

Lohi told YLE that investigators are probing whether the crew of the Eagle S should have noticed that they were dragging the ship’s anchor along the seafloor for almost 100 kilometers (62 miles). He did not comment on whether additional evidence supporting intentional sabotage had been found on the ship and crew’s communications devices.

The broadcaster reported that police suspect the anchor — which was found two weeks after the ship itself had been boarded by helicopter — detached from its chain just when the country’s authorities urged the crew to raise it.

“When the vessel was approached from the anchor position, we received a response that was somewhat unsatisfactory regarding the course of events. This raises suspicions of deliberate action,” said Lohi.

His interview follows reports citing anonymous intelligence officials that have suggested Western authorities are assessing the recent spate of cable breakages to be accidents rather than acts of sabotage.

Those reports have prompted strong criticisms from onlookers who argue that the nature of the incidents and their repeat occurrence indicate a pattern of behavior.

In particular, maritime experts have argued that it is not feasible to accidentally drag an anchor for more than 100 kilometers. A German Navy captain’s view on the matter — shared by German naval analyst Sarah Kirchberger on social media — notes that the anchor and chain of a ship like the Eagle S weigh over 100 metric tons, something that “requires considerable power from the engine” and “makes a lot of noise and clatter.”

Declining to comment on the reported intelligence consensus that the incident was accidental, chief inspector Lohi told YLE it was “premature to take a position on what is behind it and whether there were any specific actors involved.”

However he stressed there was no difference of opinion between the National Bureau of Investigation and Finland’s intelligence services about the case.

“The authorities have been working closely together. We do not want to take a position on what the real cause of the events was, but the preliminary investigation is ongoing and conclusions will be made once the investigative measures have been completed,” he said.

YLE reported the onsite investigation of the tanker is largely complete, as is the underwater investigation of the cable damage sites. Interrogations of the nine suspected crew members are ongoing and police analysts continue to review the seized material. They expect the investigation to continue for several months.