Fitburg cargo ship suspected of severing Helsinki-Tallinn (Elisa) subsea cable

On 31 December 2025 the Finnish telecoms operator Elisa detected a fault in its subsea telecommunications cable linking Helsinki and Tallinn, with the break lying inside Estonia's exclusive economic zone in the Gulf of Finland. As reported by Estonian public broadcaster ERR, Finnish authorities directed the cargo ship Fitburg into Finnish waters and seized it the same day after finding it with its anchor lowered.

The Fitburg, a 132-metre vessel flagged in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and sailing from St Petersburg, Russia, toward Haifa, Israel, was held at the port of Kantvik. According to Euronews, investigators believe the ship dragged its anchor along the seabed for several kilometres before damaging the cable, and Maritime Executive reported a seabed dragline running at least about 10 km. All 14 crew, nationals of Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, were initially detained. The vessel was released on 12 January 2026 once Finnish and Estonian police completed their onboard work.

A 48-year-old Azerbaijani boatswain remained in custody as the prime suspect, while several other crew were placed under travel restrictions. The case is being run by Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) as aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and aggravated interference with telecommunications. Finnish Customs separately seized the cargo, structural steel from Russia, as a suspected breach of EU sanctions.

Finnish authorities treat the incident as suspected sabotage by anchor dragging, concluding the Elisa cable was damaged by the Fitburg's anchor, but attribution remains assessed rather than legally proven and no court verdict had been issued. The ship's Russian-origin route and EU-sanctioned cargo fit a wider pattern of suspected anchor-drag damage to Baltic subsea infrastructure, and reporting framed it as the first vessel seized for cable damage since NATO's Baltic Sentry operation began. A deliberate, state-directed motive has not been officially established. This entry may change as further public information emerges from the ongoing investigation.