Straits TimesFinland seizes ship sailing from Russia after suspected cable sabotage in Baltic Sea *Finnish police seized the "Fitburg" ship on suspicion of sabotaging an undersea telecoms cable between Finland and Estonia.
*The ship, en route from Russia to Israel, had a crew of 14 from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan.
*Concern is growing in Europe about hybrid threats as officials investigate outages of power and telecoms infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
Published Dec 31, 2025, 11:58 PM
Updated Dec 31, 2025, 11:58 PM
HELSINKI - Finnish police on Dec 31 seized a ship sailing from Russia on suspicion of sabotaging an undersea telecoms cable running from Helsinki to Estonia across the Gulf of Finland, an area hit by a string of similar incidents in recent years.
The seized cargo vessel, “Fitburg”, was en route from the Russian port of St Petersburg to Israel at the time of the incident, Finland’s Border Guard authority told a press conference in Helsinki.
“At the moment we suspect aggravated disruption of telecommunications and also aggravated sabotage and attempted aggravated sabotage,” Helsinki chief of police Jari Liukku told reporters. ...
