The police are investigating whether a foreign ship is connected to the Finnish-Estonian cable disruption – A Finnish patrol ship escorted a tanker connected to the Russian shadow fleet off Porkkala

Police announces that it is investigating the interruption of the Estlink 2 electricity connection between Finland and Estonia.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, December 25, the authorities received information about the possible damage of the electricity cable running between Finland and Estonia from the grid company Finngrid.

“The matter was investigated immediately after the information arrived,” says the police.

The police say that they are working together with the border guard and other authorities to find out the chain of events of the case and whether a foreign cargo ship is connected to the damage. The police did not elaborate on what the beginning means.

“The police continue to investigate the course of events. Due to the incompleteness of the investigation, it is not possible to provide more information about the case at this stage.”

Also German data center operator Hetzner announced on the night between Wednesday and Thursday, that there is a problem in the network connection between Germany and Finland.

“There is currently a fault in the main network connection between Frankfurt and Helsinki. This may cause short-term lag issues. We apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your understanding”, the company says in the press release.

No further information has been provided about the quality of the disturbance, and there is also no information on whether the disturbance is somehow related to the electricity grid disturbance between Finland and Estonia.

Finland and Estonia’s direct current connection Estlink 2 went offline on Wednesday at 12:26 p.m., says the grid company Fingrid.

The power transfer of the connection at the “time of disconnection” was 658 megawatts from Finland to Estonia. Fingrid has started investigating the problem. Possible reasons were still open on Christmas Eve.

“We have several lines of investigation, from sabotage to a technical fault, and nothing has been ruled out yet. At least two vessels have moved near the cable since the start of the disturbance,” said Fingrid’s control room manager HS Arto Pahkin at nine in the evening.

According to him, during Wednesday, the substations will be tested, one of which is in Finland and the other in Estonia.

“If nothing unusual is detected in them, we can assume that the problem is in the cable,” says Pahkin.

The testing of the sea cable is scheduled to begin in the morning of Boxing Day, and the results can be expected at noon, Pahkin estimated in the evening.

“Our employees are investigating the cause of the disturbance in Finland and the Estonians in Estonia. So far, there is no information whether the problem is in the electric cable or the substation. After a couple of hours, we will be wiser, but it looks like there is enough electric power in Finland,” said Fingrid’s control room manager Arto Pahkin from early afternoon.

According to him, there are no signs of vandalism in the substations located on the mainland.

“We have several lines of investigation and are trying to rule out different options. At this stage, vandalism against the submarine cable cannot be ruled out,” says Pahkin.

In social the media has highlighted a Hong Kong-flagged ship called Xin Xin Tian 2 in particular.

However, according to the Marine Traffic website, which follows the movement of ships, several other ships were sailing in the vicinity of EstLink 2 on Christmas Day when the connection was lost. When the cable failed, at least the Eagle S oil tanker sailing under the flag of the Cook Islands has sailed in the area. Following sea traffic Marine traffic- based on the tracking service, the vessel in question clearly slowed down its course around the time the cable damage was detected.

Based on the monitoring data of the service, the Border Guard’s patrol boat Safety escorted the tanker in question to Porkkala in the early evening on Christmas Day. Early on the morning of Boxing Day, both ships were still off Porkkala.

According to Marinetraffic, the oil tanker was on its way from St. Petersburg to Egypt.

A traditional British publication reporting on maritime traffic Lloyd’s Listin according to the Eagle S tanker is a so-called Russian oil transporter dark navy.

The publication defines the dark fleet as vessels over 15 years old, the true owner of which is unknown, whose sole mission is to transport oil from a country subject to sanctions, and which have been made by the US administration defined by misleading maritime practices.

According to Lloyd’s List, the tanker in question is the only vessel of the Caravella company from the United Arab Emirates. In July, a British publication reported that the approximately 20-year-old Eagle S tanker, in poor condition, was a safety and environmental risk.

Same the submarine cable was damaged in January of this year due to a short circuit, and it returned to service at the beginning of September. The fault was eventually located on the coast of Estonia, and sabotage, for example, was not suspected.

“The disconnection of the transmission connection will not affect Finns’ access to electricity,” announced the Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (kok) in the afternoon message service at X.

Estlink 2 is an electricity transmission cable jointly owned by Fingrid and the Estonian grid company Elering, which runs from Püssi in Estonia to Porvoo in Anttila. The cable was officially introduced ten years ago.

The length of the connection is 170 kilometers, of which 14 kilometers are overhead cables in Finland, 145 kilometers of sea cable installed at the bottom of the Gulf of Finland, and about 12 kilometers of land cable in Estonia.

Estlink 2 is an important electricity transmission connection for Finland and the Baltics. Its transmission capacity is more than 650 megawatts. For example, the third unit in Olkiluoto can produce electricity with a power of 1,600 megawatts.

The electricity transmission cable Estlink 1, with a transmission capacity of 350 megawatts, also operates between Finland and Estonia.

Correction 26.12. 8:36 a.m.: The article previously incorrectly spoke of the Border Guard Fleet when it meant the Border Guard Agency.