“His Majesty's ship Belos located and raised anchor, and then handed it over to the Finnish authorities – Swedish Navy spokesman Jimmie Adamsson told AFP. This is the result of a probable act of sabotage by Russia – the ship”Eagle S“passing near the Finnish coast damaged undersea telecommunications and power cables. The unit is currently located east of Helsinki, and the authorities have banned eight crew members from leaving Finland.
According to information from the Finnish “Yle”, the Central Criminal Police will begin an investigation into the found anchor on Tuesday. According to media reports, the anchor has been found very deep, at 80 meters.
“Shadow Fleet” in the Baltic Sea. The European Commission responds
According to Marinetraffic, the tanker was sailing from St. Petersburg to Egypt and is entering composition of the so-called shadow fleetsi.e. a Russian fleet of ships older than 15 years, the real owner of which is unknown. Their only mission is to transport oil.
Acts of undersea sabotage intensified after Russia's attack on Ukraine – even before the invasion, Moscow was testing the West's ability and readiness to oppose hybrid forms of aggression.
The European Commission is also reacting to the recent events in the Baltic Sea. Brussels will soon propose imposing further sanctions on tankers transporting Russian oil, including in the mentioned water area. Currently, 72 of the estimated 600 tankers from the “Russian shadow fleet” appear on the sanctions list. Its supplementation is sought by, among others: Poland. The EC also intends to strengthen the protection of submarine cables, including the exchange of information.