Due cables submarines for the communication data they were damaged in the night between 29 and the 30 December. The first among the Finland e Estoniathe second in the Baltic Sea between Sweden e Estonia. A few hours later, the Finnish police seized a vessel suspected of having damaged the first of the two cables, the one connecting Helsinki a Tallinnthe Estonian capital, in the Gulf of Finland. Police have not released details on the provenance of the vessel – found anchored at sea – but the Finnish public broadcaster Yleciting the maritime website MarineTraffic, reported that it is the Fitburga nave cargo 132 meters long with the flag of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, started from San Petersburgin Russiadirected to Haifain Israel. The ship is suspected of being “responsible of the damage caused al cable“, which belongs to group Finnish Of telecommunications Elisa and is located within the exclusive economic zone dell’Estoniaas communicated by the police in a statement. Elisa said in a press release that the damage to the cable “did not in any way affect the functioning” of hers services. The 14 crew members (originally from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan) have been detained, with the competent authorities investigating on suspicion of aggravated damage and serious disruption of postal and telematic traffic. The Russian embassy in Finland said it would provide the crew with “the necessary assistance within the scope of the embassy’s competences.” “We are working to clarify the situation. We have requested further information from the Finnish side,” the diplomatic mission said.
Il Gulf in Finlandpart of the Baltic Sea, extends between Estonia, Finland e Russia. Several in recent years infrastructure energy e di communicationincluding submarine cables and pipelines, were damaged in the area in question. After the invasion of Ukraine on the part of the Russia in February 2022, many experts e politicians considered the alleged sabotage of the cables as part of the “hybrid warfare” from the Russia against Western countries.
As for the first case, the president of Finland Alexander Stubbs thanked the timely work of authority Finns and stressed that the government is following the developments of the issue: “Finland is ready to face several challenges in materia Of safety e reacts appropriately to the situation” added President Stubb on X. “It is a break of the cable in two places, in the area economical Estonian” he declared instead Anders Wallinderhead of the preparedness and security department at the Swedish Post and Telecommunications Agency, on the second case, the one between Sweden and Estonia. “There break of the cable it occurred during the night between 29 and 30 December and had no repercussions on users but increased the vulnerability of the system,” added Wallinder, interviewed by the Swedish news agency TT.
Photo credit: Finnish police official website
