Finnish authorities say to search tanker over suspected Baltic cable cut

HELSINGI - Finnish authorities plan to inspect the Eagle S tanker that is suspected of belonging to Russia's shadow fleet and playing a role in the sabotage of a Baltic undersea cable, the country's transport agency said Thursday.

Sanna Sonninen, director general of the maritime sector of the agency, said the inspection planned for later Thursday was in addition to an inquiry already underway by Finnish police.

The Cook Islands-flagged Eagle S is suspected of having damaged the EstLink 2 power cable linking Finland and Estonia on Dec. 25.

The Eagle S is suspected of belonging to Russia's so-called ghost fleet being used to transport crude oil and petroleum products to circumvent sanctions on Moscow.

The Finnish transport and communications agency, Traficom, will begin a port state control inspection on the tanker Eagle S on Jan. 2. The purpose of the inspection is to verify the ship’s compliance with the requirements of applicable international conventions.

"Traficom is the competent authority for port state control in Finland. The inspection of the Eagles S is a routine procedure, but the inspection may take several days. We will ensure that the inspection will not compromise the ongoing police operation and investigation. The process will also take into account the workload on the crew. We will report on the results once we have completed the inspection," Sonninen said.

The ship was en route from St. Petersburg to Egypt. Its crew includes 24 people, citizens of Georgia and India. According to media reports, all of them are on board the ship. Seven of them were banned from leaving the country.

Finnish and Estonian energy experts estimate that it could take up to seven months and tens of millions of euros to repair the cable, while Estonian energy company Eesti Energia has already announced that it plans to raise the prices of fixed-rate electricity packages.