Finland has determined the damage to a power cable in the Gulf of Finland as hooliganism. Police conducted a special operation on a tanker suspected of involvement in the incident, according to Yle, Helsingin Sanomat and the Finnish police.
Two anonymous sources told Helsingin Sanomat about the details of the operation. According to them, the Coast Guard ordered the tanker to move to the port city of Porkkala, near Helsinki. Around midnight, police and border guard teams flew there from the capital in two helicopters.
They were armed and prepared for the possibility of resistance. However, they were quickly and voluntarily allowed on board.
During the night, the police and prosecutors debated whether to classify the damage to the cable as serious damage or to add a possible terrorist intent.
“Since this was not the first time that cables had been damaged, we assumed that the motive might be to spread fear. However, in the end, we concluded that the qualification of causing significant damage or serious vandalism was more appropriate,” said Deputy Prosecutor General Jukka Rappe.
Damaged power line in Finland
On Christmas Eve, Finland reported damage to an underwater power cable with Estonia.
Around 6:00 p.m., the Finnish national power grid operator Fingrid announced that the Estlink 2 underwater power cable connecting Finland and Estonia had been damaged.
Arto Pahkin, a representative of the Finnish electricity transmission system operator Fingrid, even noted that there were two vessels in the area where the cables ran at the time of the connection disruption.
For more details, see the material by RBC-Ukraine.
Later today, it became known that the Finnish authorities are investigating the case of an oil tanker, which is probably part of Russia’s shadow fleet.
At the same time, Finnish President Alexander Stubb called on the world to counteract the risks posed by the vessels of the Russian shadow fleet.
(NewsNation) — Incoming Trump administration border czar Tom Homan tells NewsNation’s Ali Bradley there is no “price tag” for the mass deportations planned by the incoming administration, citing “national security” concerns.
“What price do you put on national security? I don’t think it has a price tag,” Homan said. “What price do you put on the thousands of American moms and dads who buried their children? You want to talk about family separation; they buried their children because their children were murdered by illegal aliens that weren’t supposed to be here. I don’t put a price on that. I don’t put a price on national security. I don’t put a price on American lives.”
Homan further defended the mass deportations’ $86 billion price tag, saying it would save American taxpayers money in the future.
“This operation would be expensive,” he acknowledged. “However, it’s going to save taxpayers a lot of money in the long run. Right now, we’re spending billions of dollars on free airline tickets, free hotel rooms, free medical care, free meals, the education system.”
Homan, however, said they will also need help from Congress.
“We need more resources; we need funding. We obviously need to buy more detention beds because everybody we arrest, we have to detain to work on those removal efforts and get travel documents, get flight arrangements. So we need more detention beds,” said Homan.
Homan said the Trump administration doesn’t plan on separating families but rather deporting them together. He said the administration is looking into using halfway houses to hold U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants.
“As far as U.S. children, that’s going to be a difficult situation because we’re not going to change your U.S. citizenship,” he said. “Which means they’re going to be put in a halfway house or they can stay at home and wait for the officers to get the travel arrangements and come back and get the family. You know the best thing to do for a family is to self-deport themselves.”
Homan also targeted birthright citizenship, saying having a child who is a U.S. citizen does not make undocumented immigrants “immune from our laws.”
“We can’t send that message,” he said. “Because if we do, you’re never going to solve the border crisis.”
A Russian anti-aircraft system may be behind the plane crash that killed 23 people in Azerbaijan. As conditions deteriorate in Gaza, some newborns have frozen to death. College campuses warn international students ahead of a potential travel ban. The strike against Amazon is over, but the Teamsters are warning to “stay tuned.” And a cab driver in New York struck six people in Midtown Manhattan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Israel’s El Al national airline has suspended flights to Russia. The decision was made after the plane crash in Kazakhstan, according to 9 kanal Israel.
It is noted that flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow will not be operated over the next week.
“Reassessment of the situation will be carried out next week, then a decision will be made on the resumption of flights and passengers will be notified soon,” the company’s press service said.
Airplane crash in Kazakhstan
On the morning of December 25, an Embraer 190 passenger plane of the AZAL airline crashed in Kazakhstan. There were 67 people on board. According to the latest information, 38 people died in the crash.
It is known that the plane was en route from Baku to Grozny. According to media reports, the plane could have been shot down in Grozny, where drones had been shot down before, so it was unable to land. As a result, the Embraer 190 crashed near the city of Aktau.
According to Euronews, Azerbaijan has confirmed that the crash was caused by a Russian missile.
Israel’s El Al national airline has suspended flights to Russia. The decision was made after the plane crash in Kazakhstan, according to 9 kanal Israel.
It is noted that flights between Tel Aviv and Moscow will not be operated over the next week.
“Reassessment of the situation will be carried out next week, then a decision will be made on the resumption of flights and passengers will be notified soon,” the company’s press service said.
Airplane crash in Kazakhstan
On the morning of December 25, an Embraer 190 passenger plane of the AZAL airline crashed in Kazakhstan. There were 67 people on board. According to the latest information, 38 people died in the crash.
It is known that the plane was en route from Baku to Grozny. According to media reports, the plane could have been shot down in Grozny, where drones had been shot down before, so it was unable to land. As a result, the Embraer 190 crashed near the city of Aktau.
According to Euronews, Azerbaijan has confirmed that the crash was caused by a Russian missile.
Russia is conducting actions aimed at testing NATO’s response and creating tension in the Baltic states. This may include small special operations or even long-term destabilization, stated military expert and former officer of the Security Service of Ukraine Ivan Stupak in a commentary to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel.
“As for the Baltic states, Russia has long been encroaching on them. There is a lot of negative reflection towards the Baltic states because Russia believes that the Baltic states were the first dominoes that triggered the events that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. They cannot be forgiven for this,” the expert noted.
According to Stupak, the Baltic states have been expecting an attack from Russia for more than four years.
“Back in 2020, off the record, the military (of the Baltic states – ed.) said that they expected an attack from Russia. Even then, four years ago, they said that no one would defend them. They argued that it would take NATO 180 days to deploy a rapid response force, and during that time ‘we would all be slaughtered.’ This is a literal quote,” he said.
Stupak emphasized that although NATO has revised the timeline for deploying the forces, it still does not provide guarantees for any of the countries.
“Let’s be honest: NATO is a big collective farm. There is no one big CEO, there is a Secretary General, and all decisions are made unanimously. If one or two countries say no, then no Article 5 will be activated,” the expert added.
In conclusion, he suggested that Russia could organize small special operations, for example, in the Narva area of Estonia, to test NATO.
“To summarize: what Russia has been doing in the Baltic Sea for the last year, when it jams GPS, exposing planes and ships to danger, can be partly seen as preparation not for a full-scale invasion, because it has no forces now, but for a long war in the style of ‘I cannot capture, but I will harm’,” Stupak said.
He explained that there could be a “small special operation” in such a small location as Narva to show NATO that it can do nothing.
Earlier today, Politico described a possible scenario of how Russia could try to seize part of Estonia.
It was about the city of Narva, which is located between Estonia and Russia.
It should be noted that back in May, the head of Poland’s military counterintelligence service, Jarosław Stróżyk, said that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin was ready for a small military operation against a NATO country. According to him, it could be Narva or a Swedish island.
AP correspondent Rica Ann Garcia reports on an attack on Houthi rebels in Yemen, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms the Israeli Air Force conducted the operation.
