On December 31, 2025, Finnish police arrested the cargo ship Fitburg on its way from Russia to Israel on suspicion of damaging telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland connecting Helsinki with Estonia.
On January 2, 2026, investigators said they had arrested 2 individuals and banned 2 others from leaving the country among the 14 crew members of the Fitburg ship. These sailors came from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Finnish authorities have also begun interrogating the sailors.
The interrogations have clarified the developments of the incident and the different roles of the crew members" - Inspector General Risto Lohi of the Finnish National Investigation Agency said.
The Fitburg ship was en route from St. Petersburg, Russia to Haifa port, Israel when the incident occurred. The ship was flying the flag of Saint Vincent & Grenadines at the time of the incident.
This week, Finnish National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimaki said that the ship dragged the anchor for hours before being detected.
Finnish Customs also announced that it had found structural steel subject to EU sanctions in a shipment originating from Russia on this ship.
The import of such sanctioned goods into the EU is prohibited under EU sanctions regulations. Finnish Customs continues to investigate the chain of events and the possibility of applying EU sanctions law to this case" - Finnish Customs stated clearly.
Finnish police are investigating crimes of causing serious damage, intentionally causing serious damage and seriously interfering in the telecommunications system.
The incident of the ship suspected of breaking the cable occurred in the context of a series of incidents affecting electric cables, telecommunications lines and gas pipelines connecting Northern Europe, the Baltic and other European countries that have occurred since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out.
