Finnish police conduct special operation on Russian shadow tanker

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.