The damage to Estlink 2 was discovered at lunchtime on Christmas Day. The incident, which is being investigated by the police, among others, is being investigated as gross sabotage.
On St. Stephen's Day, Fingrid announced that the cable break had occurred in the Finnish Bay in Finnish waters. The repairs will take several months. The police say they have not yet been able to investigate the seabed.
The Estonian government and companies Elisa and Citic Telekom report that communication cables between Estonia and Finland have also been damaged. Work on repairing them has begun. According to the companies, the damage does not affect consumers, reports Yle.
Identified as Russian shadow fleet
The Finnish police and coastguard have boarded the oil tanker Eagle S, flagged in the Cook Islands, in connection with the cable damage. The ship was escorted by the Finnish coastguard to a location southwest of Helsinki on Christmas Eve.
The Eagle S was on its way from St. Petersburg to Egypt. The oil tanker has previously been identified as suspected of being part of the Russian so-called shadow fleet, which helps Russia transport Russian oil.
According to Estonia's Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets, the cable damage is not a coincidence.
It can be seen as an attack on our infrastructure, he says, according to Finnish Ilta-Sanomat, after an extraordinary government meeting on St. Stephen's Day.
Prime Minister Kristen Michal says that more warships will be deployed near critical infrastructure.
More sanctions against Russia
The EU is also threatening further sanctions against Russian ships following the incident.
"The suspected ship is part of Russia's shadow fleet, which threatens security and the environment while financing Russia's war budget. We will propose further measures, including sanctions, to target this fleet," says the EU Commission and EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas.
The incident is not expected to affect the power supply, but the situation could change if it gets colder for a longer period, according to Fingrid.
The defense alliance NATO is also expressing its support.
"Spoke with (Estonian Prime Minister) Kristen Michal about reported possible sabotage of Baltic Sea cables. NATO is in solidarity with its allies and condemns all attacks on critical infrastructure," writes NATO chief Mark Rutte on X and continues:
"We are following Estonia's and Finland's investigations and we are ready to provide further support."
Stenergard: Preparatory measures
Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) writes in a statement to TT that the Coast Guard and the Defense Forces are taking preparatory measures to protect underwater infrastructure along the Swedish coast.
The Foreign Minister further writes that she is awaiting the result of the Finnish investigation and does not want to speculate about whether what happened was intentional or not.
The power transmission cable is 17 nautical miles long, of which 14.5 miles run underwater in the Finnish Bay.
The remaining 1.4 miles are overhead lines on the Finnish side and 1.2 miles are underground cables on the Estonian side.
According to Estonian radio, ERR, Estlink 2 has been out of operation earlier, for large parts of 2024, due to maintenance work.
Source: ERR
