The Eagle S ship's captain, Georgian national Davit Vadatchkoria sits for his trial, where he and the ship's first and second officers face charges of aggravated sabotage and telecommunications interference, as well as lesser offences such as vandalism and endangering public safety, in relation to an incident in the Baltic Sea last Christmas, where the prosecutor alleges that the ship's crew deliberately dragged the vessel's anchor along the seabed, damaging five undersea cables between Finland and Estonia including the Estlink 2 power cable, at the District Court in Helsinki, Finland September 1, 2025. Lehtikuva/Antti Aimo-Koivisto via REUTERS
HELSINKI (Reuters) -A Finnish district court ruled on Friday that it does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the captain and two officers of the Eagle S oil tanker, who are accused of breaking undersea power and internet cables in the Baltic Sea last year.
Finland has said the Eagle S is part of a shadow fleet of tankers used by Russia to circumvent sanctions on its oil exports. The December 25 incident was one of a string of cable and gas pipeline outages in the Baltic Sea since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, putting NATO forces in the region on high alert. Russia has denied involvement in cable cutting.
