Overview
- Finnish border guard assets found the St Vincent and the Grenadines–flagged Fitburg with its anchor lowered near the fault and ordered it into Finnish territorial waters, where police boarded and seized the vessel.
- Police said the damage was detected on Elisa’s link in Estonia’s exclusive economic zone and opened investigations for aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications.
- All 14 crew members were detained; officials said they are from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, and MarineTraffic data showed the ship sailed from St Petersburg bound for Haifa.
- Estonia reported a second Finland–Estonia cable outage affecting Arelion the same day, while traffic was rerouted through backups and President Alar Karis said he hoped the damage was not deliberate.
- NATO and regional authorities are sharing information under existing cooperation frameworks, reported ownership links point to Albros Shipping & Trading, and investigators have not established motive or state involvement.