The captain and two officers of an oil tanker accused of severing five undersea power and telecoms cables when their vessel left Russia and sailed through the Gulf of Finland in late 2024 will stand trial in Helsinki on Monday.
Investigators have concluded that the Eagle S dragged its anchor along the seabed, severing the Estlink 2 power cable connecting Finland and Estonia, and four internet lines, leading Finnish security forces to interrupt the vessel's journey and board it from helicopters after ordering it to move into Finnish territorial waters.
The three defendants have denied all charges, and the captain told Finnish public broadcaster YLE the incident was "a marine accident".
NATO allies around the Baltic Sea went on high alert following the incident, one of a string of suspicious cable and gas pipeline outages in the region since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Finnish prosecutors this month charged the Cook Islands-registered tanker's Georgian captain and Indian first and second officers with aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with telecommunications.
The maximum sentence for aggravated criminal mischief is 10 years in prison, while aggravated interference with telecommunications carries a term of up to five years.
Prosecutors say the damage caused serious risks to energy supply and telecommunications in Finland, and that repair costs total at least €60 million ($70 million).
The defendants argue that Finland lacks jurisdiction in the case as the cables were damaged outside Finnish territorial waters, and the court has said it will also consider this claim.
Finnish authorities detained the Eagle S after the cables were severed and released it again in March, while upholding a travel ban on the three now facing trial.
A lawyer for United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, the owner of the Eagle S, has also said Helsinki lacks jurisdiction to intervene in the case.
Last week, a Ukrainian was arrested over the 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Both Moscow and the West have described the explosions, which largely severed Russian gas supplies to Europe, as sabotage.
Ukrainan President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after talks with a top U.S. Army official on Thursday he was ready for "honest" work with Washington on a ...
U.S. President Donald Trump removed his 40% tariffs on Brazilian food products, including beef, coffee, cocoa and fruits that were imposed in July to ...
Axios has published the full 28-point framework drafted by the U.S. administration, outlining a proposed settlement between Ukraine and Russia built o...
South Africa and the European Union vowed to defend multilateralism on Thursday (November 20), ahead of the G20 summit, as they signed a partnership o...
More international support is needed to stabilise the Palestinian fiscal situation, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica sai...
The White House said on Thursday (November 20) that senior Trump administration officials met with Ukrainian representatives this past week to discuss a peace plan designed to be acceptable to both Ukraine and Russia.
President Donald Trump on Thursday (20 November) assailed Democratic lawmakers who told members of U.S. military they must refuse any illegal orders, calling them traitors and saying they should face the death penalty.
Azerbaijan’s initiatives to strengthen relations with Western Balkan states revolve mainly around energy security and diversification, economic cooperation, infrastructure investments and shared historical and political struggles.
Lithuania’s Vilnius airport was temporarily closed on Thursday after smugglers’ balloons appeared on radar, the National Crisis Management Centre said.
Indonesian authorities evacuated more than 900 people from nearby villages and were helping 170 stranded climbers return safely after the eruption of Semeru volcano, one of the country's tallest mountains.
Iran's air force, heavily reliant on aging F-14A Tomcat jets, faces a growing technological gap as its neighbors rapidly modernize their air forces with advanced fighter jets and air defense systems.
A fresh wave of floods and landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in central Vietnam since the weekend has claimed at least eight lives, according to a government report on Wednesday. Traders have also cautioned that the extreme weather could disrupt the ongoing coffee harvest.
Germany has returned 12 royal-era cultural artefacts to Ethiopia in a ceremony in Addis Ababa, marking a formal step in ongoing cultural cooperation between the two countries.
An off-the-cuff remark by new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi that triggered Japan's biggest bust-up in years with powerful neighbour China was not meant to signal a new hardline stance.
Ukrainan President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after talks with a top U.S. Army official on Thursday he was ready for "honest" work with Washington on a plan to end the war in Ukraine, while European allies pushed back against punishing concessions to Russia.
U.S. President Donald Trump removed his 40% tariffs on Brazilian food products, including beef, coffee, cocoa and fruits that were imposed in July to punish Brazil over the prosecution of its former president, Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro.
Axios has published the full 28-point framework drafted by the U.S. administration, outlining a proposed settlement between Ukraine and Russia built on security guarantees, territorial provisions and long-term economic arrangements.
South Africa and the European Union vowed to defend multilateralism on Thursday (November 20), ahead of the G20 summit, as they signed a partnership on critical minerals.
More international support is needed to stabilise the Palestinian fiscal situation, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Suica said on Thursday (November 20).
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment