HELSINKI, OCT 3 (AFP/APP/DNA):A Finnish court will on Friday deliver its verdict on the captain and two senior officers of a ship, believed to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet”, suspected of cutting Baltic Sea cables.
The three crew members of the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S are accused of dragging the ship’s anchor on the seabed for around 90 kilometres (56 miles), damaging five undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland on December 25, 2024.
With tensions mounting around the Baltic Sea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, many experts and political leaders have viewed the suspected cable sabotage as part of a “hybrid war” carried out by Russia against Western countries.
The Eagle S is believed to belong to Russia’s so-called shadow fleet — old oil tankers used by Moscow to dodge sanctions imposed by Western allies over the Ukraine war.
Potential Russian responsibility for the incident was not discussed during the trial.
The verdict comes after French prosecutors said Wednesday that they had detained two senior crew members of another tanker linked to Russia: the Benin-flagged Boracay.
Data showed the Boracay was off the Danish coast last month during mysterious drone flights that prompted the closure of several airports.
Finnish prosecutors have argued the captain of the Eagle S, Davit Vadatchkoria of Georgia, and senior officers Robert Egizaryan of Georgia and Santosh Kumar Chaurasia of India, neglected their duties intentionally, after leaving the Russian port of Ust-Luga.
Charged with “aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications”, the prosecutors have asked for unconditional prison sentences of at least two-and-a-half years.
They “neglected to investigate the reason for the drop in speed and engine revolutions, even though it was clear that they were caused by an external force that was affecting the ship”, according to the charges.
The three men, who testified before the Helsinki district court in August and September, have denied the charges throughout the trial.
They have insisted that the cables were severed accidentally, and claimed the ship had slowed down due to an engine problem and rough weather conditions.
According to Vadatchkoria, there had been no indication the anchor had fallen from the ship.
“There was no reason to doubt that it was not in order,” he told the court.
But prosecutors have argued the crew members must have been aware of the anchor dragging behind the vessel.
“If a ship drags an anchor behind it for several hours for 90 kilometres, is it really possible that no one would notice?” prosecutor Mikko Larkia said at the start of the trial.
The EstLink 2 power cable and four telecommunications cables connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged in the incident, one of several similar occurrences last year.
Finland and neighbouring Sweden joined NATO following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the military alliance has increased its surveillance and presence in the Baltic Sea following the incidents.
The court will also rule on whether Finland has jurisdiction in the case.
The defence has argued that Finland lacks jurisdiction because the cuts to the cables happened outside Finnish territorial waters.
The prosecution insists it does, due to the risk the incident posed to Finland’s critical infrastructure.
