Helsinki, Finland — Finnish investigators investigating damage to a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables said they found evidence of an anchor being pulled on the seabed, apparently from a Russian-linked ship that has already been seized for investigation.

The Estlink-2 power cable, which transmits energy from Finland to Estonia across the Baltic Sea, failed on December 25 after an evident rupture. It had little impact on services, but it followed earlier damage to two data cables and North Stream gas pipelinesand both are called sabotage.

The Finnish police’s chief investigator, Sami Paila, said late Sunday that the trail stretched “for tens of kilometers … if not almost a hundred kilometers (62 miles).”

“Our current understanding is that the trace in question is the anchor drag of the ship Eagle S. We have been able to clarify this matter through underwater research,” Paila told Finnish national television Yle.

“I can say that we have a preliminary understanding of what happened at sea, how the anchor mark was formed there,” Paila said, without giving further details. He also emphasized that “the question of intent is a completely essential question that needs to be clarified in the preliminary investigation, and it will be clarified as the investigation progresses.”

On Saturday, the ship was escorted to an inland anchorage near the port of Porvoo to facilitate the investigation, officials said. It is being carried out under criminal charges for aggravated interference with telecommunications, aggravated vandalism and aggravated misdemeanor.

The ship is under the flag of the Cook Islands, but has been described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union’s executive commission as part of Russia’s clandestine fleet of fuel tankers. These are outdated vessels with unclear ownership, acquired to avoid Western sanctions against Russia amid the war in Ukraine and operating without Western-regulated insurance.

Russia’s use of the vessels has raised environmental concerns over accidents given their age and uncertain insurance.

Following the cable snap, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said last week that the military alliance, which Finland joined last year, would step up patrols in the Baltic Sea region, where tensions have risen since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. .

Finland, which shares an 832-mile border with Russia, abandoned its decades-long policy of neutrality and joined NATO in 2023, amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.

About seven months after the start of the Russian invasion, a series of underwater explosions ruptured the Nord Stream pipelines that were built to transport Russian gas to Europe. The cause is not yet confirmed, but Germany is wanted three Ukrainian citizens for questioning in connection with suspected sabotage.

At the end of November 2024, parts of two data cables were cut in Swedish territorial waters. Ship tracking sites show that the Chinese freighter Yi Peng 3 was sailing over the cables around the time they were cut.

Russia responded with derision to early speculation by European officials that the cables may have been damaged as part of Moscow’s attempts at hybrid warfare. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at the time that “it is rather absurd to continue to blame Russia for everything without any basis.”