Finnish investigators say the crew of an oil tanker accused of damaging undersea power and communication cables in the Baltic Sea were preparing to cut additional infrastructure before authorities intervened,

On Dec. 26, Finnish authorities seized oil tanker Eagle S carrying Russian oil. They said they suspected the vessel had damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line and four telecoms cables by dragging its anchor across the seabed for more than 100 km (60 miles).

Finland's public transport agency said on Wednesday that an oil tanker suspected of damaging undersea cables in the Baltic Sea was found to have serious deficiencies and will not be allowed to operate until repairs have been made.

The Nordic country's National Bureau of Investigation says the ship is suspected of towing an anchor that caused damage to a source of electricity powering Estonia.

The Baltic Sea has seen multiple attacks on energy and communications infrastructure since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. These have often been linked to hybrid warfare tactics

Finnish authorities on Thursday seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion it caused the outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier, and that it also damaged or broke four internet lines.

Finland has claimed that the oil tanker suspected of sabotaging several undersea cables in the Baltic Sea late last year was planning to sever additional cables. As part of their investigation, Scandinavian authorities seized the vessel Eagle S,

Finnish authorities believe that the anchor of the oil tanker Eagle S cut an electric cable between Finland and Estonia and damaged four data transmission cables on Christmas Day 2024. Read also: Putin's 'rusty tankers' threaten the Baltic Sea — German FM Baerbock Interrogations and other operational activities on board the vessel are ongoing,