Operations Other

On 11 August 2025, the Finnish Prosecution Service announced that the Deputy Prosecutor General had brought charges of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications against the captain and the first and second officers of the Cook Islands-registered tanker Eagle S, the vessel suspected of severing the EstLink 2 subsea power cable and four data cables in the Gulf of Finland on 25 December 2024. The indictment also includes alternative charges. According to the prosecution, the vessel — which had departed Russia's Ust-Luga with a cargo of oil products — dragged its anchor along the seabed for approximately 90 km, cutting five submarine cables and causing the cable owners (Fingrid, Elering, Elisa, Cinia and others) at least €60 million in immediate repair-cost damages. The disruption is further suspected of having created a serious risk to Finland's energy supply and telecommunications, though alternative connections preserved continuity of service. The defendants denied the offences during the preliminary investigation and contested Finnish jurisdiction, arguing that the cable-damage sites lie outside Finnish territorial waters. The application for summons was filed with the Helsinki District Court (case R 706/2025/12270; prosecution case R 25/65), which was to set the hearing date and resolve the jurisdictional question. The case was prosecuted by a state prosecutor, a senior special prosecutor and a district prosecutor.