Oil tanker Eagle S outside Porkkalanniemi in Kirkkonummi, Southern Finland, on Saturday, 28 December 2024. The tanker, believed to be part of the shadow fleet of Russia, is suspected of damaging a transmission link between Finland and Estonia on 25 December. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)
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THE NATIONAL BUREAU of Investigation (KRP) has continued to carry out forensic examinations on Eagle S, a Cook Islands-flagged oil tanker that is suspected of damaging a submarine power cable between Finland and Estonia on 25 December.
The tanker is believed to be part of the so-called shadow fleet of Russia.
Sami Paila, the detective chief inspector in charge of the pre-trial investigation at KRP, told YLE on Sunday that investigators have successfully located the drag marks left behind by the tanker’s anchor on the seabed.
“The drag marks stop where the vessel upped the anchor chain. There are several dozens of kilometres, if not almost a hundred kilometres, of [drag marks] east of that point,” he commented.
The investigators, he added, have managed to develop a preliminary understanding of the sequence of events at sea as the transmission link was disconnected, at about 12.30pm on 25 December. The primary focus is presently on interrogating the crew, as forensic procedures on the vessel and at the site of the incident have been complicated by heavy winds.
Eagle S was moored outside Porkkala until Saturday, when it was taken near Kilpilahti Port in Porvoo, Southern Finland.
Paila declined to comment on whether the investigation has yielded any indications that the link was damaged deliberately, saying the question of intent is one central dimension of the investigation.
KRP has also expanded its pre-trial investigation to include a second potential offence alongside aggravated criminal mischief, aggravated interference with communications, according to the public broadcasting company. Finnish Customs, meanwhile, is conducting a provisional inquiry into aggravated regulation offence over the purported links to the shadow fleet of Russia, a fleet of vessels that has helped the country to transport embargoed oil products and circumvent price caps on oil.
Finnish authorities succeeding in bringing the tanker to Finnish territorial waters was a key success, as it guaranteed authorities access to a broader range of measures, including a possible seizure, Henrik Ringbom, a professor of marine law at Åbo Akademi University, stated to Helsingin Sanomat on Friday.
“The important thing here is that they managed to catch the vessel, given that they want to know what this was about. At the same time they showed other vessels that this kind of activity is not tolerated. Now you can really look into what has happened,” he said.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
