A Finnish court on January 3 rejected a request to release an oil tanker that police suspect damaged underground power lines and severed four telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea.
Last week, Finland seized the Eagle S tanker carrying Russian oil on suspicion that it had damaged the Finland-Estonia Estlink 2 power line and telecommunications cables by dragging its anchor on the seabed.
A lawyer representing Caravella LLC FZ, a United Arab Emirates-based company that owns the tanker, has sought to have the ship and its crew released.
"This district court has rejected the defendant's request, which means that this arrest warrant remains in effect," Helsinki District Court Judge Tatu Koistinen announced on January 3.
Finnish lawyer Herman Ljungberg - who represents Caravella - said the company now plans to make new moves to get the Eagle S released.
The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation seized the Eagle S while Finnish customs authorities seized 35,000 tonnes of oil on board pending an investigation into whether the tanker violated sanctions against Russia.
Finnish customs authorities believe the Eagle S belongs to a shadow fleet of vessels used to evade Russian oil sanctions.
Lawyer Ljungberg accused Finland of seizing the Eagle S in international waters. His legal filing called for transparency about the location of the seizure. However, the Finnish court rejected this argument.
The Eagle S is registered in the Cook Islands. It is currently being towed to a bay near the Finnish port of Porvoo. Finnish police are gathering evidence and questioning the crew. The crew of the ship suspected of cutting the cables in the Baltic are citizens of Georgia and India.
Finnish police said eight crew members are suspects in the investigation.
On the same day, January 3, Sweden said it would send a military ship to support Finland's investigation.
"The Swedish Armed Forces are contributing to helping Finland clarify what happened," Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson stressed.
The Baltic Sea countries have been on high alert after a series of power outages, cable breaks and gas pipeline sabotage since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022, including the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022.
Last week, NATO said it would increase its presence in the region. The European Union also announced enhanced measures to protect submarine cables through improved intelligence sharing and new detection and repair technologies.
