The ship Fitburg dragged an anchor along the seabed between Estonia and Finland on New Year’s Eve 2025. Two data cables were severed and eight switching stations were damaged. Shortly afterwards, the ship was ordered to dock at a Finnish port.
The anchor was dragged for at least 130 kilometres, passing additional cables and a gas pipeline. The Helsinki District Court ruled that the damage was deliberate and classified it as gross sabotage. The ship’s Russian captain was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, and an Azerbaijani crew member to two years and ten months, Yle reports.
They were also ordered to pay joint and several damages for the costs of repairing and investigating the damage to the cables.
The Fitburg was sailing under the flag of the Caribbean island nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, a so-called flag of convenience. The 132-metre cargo ship had come from St Petersburg, Russia, and was flagged by organisations that maintain protocols on international sanctions and their enforcement.
Finnish customs seized the ship’s cargo of steel on suspicion of violating sanctions.
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