OREANDA-NEWS  The Finnish Prosecutor's Office has filed charges against the crew members of the Eagle S oil tanker in the case of damage to underwater cables in the Gulf of Finland in December 2024. This is reported by the Finnish edition of Yle.

The defendants are the captain of the detained Eagle S oil tanker, as well as two of his assistants. According to the prosecutor's office, the vessel, registered under the flag of the Cook Islands, left the Russian port of Ust-Luga with a shipment of petroleum products. The tanker, dragging the anchor along the seabed at a distance of about 90 kilometers, damaged five underwater cables.

The damage caused to the owners of the cables is estimated at at least 60 million euros for restoration work alone. Disruption of the integrity of power transmission lines and telecommunication networks has also created significant risks for the stability of energy supply and communications in Finland.

All three suspects deny any involvement in the incident. In their opinion, Finland does not have the right to consider this case, since the damage to the cables occurred outside its territorial waters.

At the end of December 2024, Finnish police detained the oil tanker Eagle S under the flag of the Cook Islands on suspicion of damaging the EstLink 2 underwater cable. Law enforcement officers claimed that the vessel was allegedly part of the Russian shadow fleet. Two months later, the tanker was released due to the lack of grounds for its detention.