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Anchor dragging case reopened by Helsinki Appeals Court
Nearly a year after the Helsinki District Court in Finland dismissed the case against three of the officers aboard the shadow fleet tanker 'Eagle S' over an anchor-dragging incident, the Helsinki Court of Appeals has overturned the decision, ruling to reopen the case. The decision, if not overturned by the Finnish Supreme Court on a further appeal, would have broader ramifications for when a state could prosecute more of the cases related to damaging subsea cables and other infrastructure in international waters. The ruling was consequential, as Finland was scheduled to start the trial of the captain and boatswain of another ship, the 'Fitburg', on Sep 8 on similar charges of causing damage by dragging the vessel's anchor in the Gulf of Finland. The District Court case from 2025 was brought against the captain and two deck officers from the tanker, which was sailing under the Cook Islands’ flag. On Dec 25, 2024, Finnish authorities were notified of an interruption on a subsea cable, and they identified the tanker Eagle S and contacted the vessel, demanding that it raise its anchor. The crew told the Finnish Coast Guard that its anchors were secure, but then four additional cables reported faults, and the Finnish Coast Guard intervened, stopping the tanker. Its port anchor was down and had been dragged for at least 56 miles, damaging a subsea power cable and four telecommunications cables between Finland and Estonia. During the trial, which began in August 2025, prosecutors argued the crew should have been aware that their anchor was down and that they provided false information to the Coast Guard. The officers blamed a decline in speed for the tanker on an engine problem while also highlighting that the tanker was traveling in bad weather conditions. The defense also questioned the authority of the Finnish Coast Guard, asserting to the court that the incident was in international waters and outside Finnish jurisdiction. They claimed the 'Eagle S' only entered Finnish waters when it was directed to by the Coast Guard. The District Court stopped the trial in October 2025 on the issue of jurisdiction and released the three officers to return to their homes in Georgia and India. The prosecutors, the cable companies, and the shipping company all filed with the Court of Appeals. The cable companies were seeking about €105 million from the three officers for repair costs and lost income. The ship’s managers were seeking a reimbursement of litigation costs that they said had amounted to more than €680,000. The Court of Appeals ruled the District Court did in fact have jurisdiction and that it should reopen the case. It rejected the argument that it was a maritime incident and under UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) jurisdiction, when an incident is in international waters, lies with either vessel’s flag state or the state of nationality of the crewmembers. The Court of Appeals found it stopped being a maritime incident once the vessel had been contacted by the Coast Guard and instructed to raise its anchor. The court also said the consequences of the ship’s actions were committed in Finland, and under Finnish national law and international law, the authority to investigate and prosecute did lie with Finland.
Case of cable damage referred back to Lower Court
The Finnish Court of Appeal has referred the case against the crew of the 'Eagle S' back to the lower court. The court ruled that Finland did, in fact, have criminal jurisdiction in the case concerning damage to five undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland. This decision overturned a ruling made by the lower court in October 2025. The lower court had previously dismissed the case because the cable damage occurred outside Finnish territorial waters, and so Finnish criminal law could not be applied. The prosecutor appealed that decision. The Court of Appeal took a different view. According to the court, Finland can indeed prosecute the crew. The fact that the cables were damaged outside Finnish territorial waters does not automatically mean Finland lacks jurisdiction; the court must examine the circumstances of each individual case. In doing so, the court distinguished between dropping an anchor and subsequently dragging that anchor along the seabed for three hours. The court ruled that the latter did not automatically constitute an "incident of navigation" as defined in Article 97 of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In Dec 2024, the 'Eagle S', meanwhile broken up, had dragged its anchor along the bed of the Gulf of Finland for approximately 90 kilometres, damaging five undersea cables in the process. Prosecutors had estimated the damage at a minimum of 60 million Euros. The ruling could also have implications for the case involving the cargo m/v 'Fitburg'. Proceedings were also underway against that vessel's crew regarding damage to subsea infrastructure in the Gulf of Finland. The court is due to consider that case soon.
Russian shadow tanker involved in suspected sabotage ended on Aliaga beach
The 'Eagle S' left its long time anchorage of Port Said on Oct 25 and was beached in Aliaga on Nov 12, one day after arriving off the beach, and thus ending a long story of accidents and suspected espionage and sabotage. On May 2, 2012, the tanker, then named 'FR8 Pride' and operated by the Singapore-based company FR8, collided with the floating drilling rig 'Rowan EXL I' in Aransas Pass, the waterway connecting the Gulf of Mexico and Aransas Bay, Texas, after the tanker's engine failed. The NTSB estimated the resulting damage at US$16–17 million. On Sep 25, 2014, the tanker, then named 'LR Mimosa' and chartered by Panamax International Shipping Corporation, destroyed the connection to a monobuoy terminal in Quintero Bay, Chile, causing an oil spill. An estimated 39 tons of crude oil leaked into Quintero Bay. In summer 2024, documents were secured, indicating the presence of signals intelligence equipment on board were Its high power consumption would have overloaded the ship's generators. There were also reports of other suspicious items on board and the disposal of such items into the sea during a previous transit of the English Channel. On Dec 25, 2024, the tanker, now operating as 'Eagle S', crossed the Estlink 2 submarine cable in the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, the company Fingrid reported a power outage on the cable. The Finnish Coast Guard subsequently intercepted the tanker, which was missing its port side anchor, escorted it into Finnish territorial waters, and boarded it. On Dec 28, 2024, the Finnish police moved the vessel from the Gulf of Finland to Svartbäckfjärden Bay near the port of Sköldvik to facilitate further investigations by the police department of the Ministry of the Interior. The crew consisted of 24 people from Georgia and India.[ Eight of them were investigated for criminal offenses such as serious sabotage. During the investigation, a drag mark was discovered on the seabed along the tanker's previous course, which could have been caused by an anchor dragged across the seabed. In early January, the severed anchor was also found and recovered at the end of the drag mark on the seabed. When investigators reviewed the ship's register, they discovered that the vessel's last valid insurance policy with the Russian company Ingosstrakh had expired in August 2024.[ At the time of the incident, the ship was therefore uninsured. During a port state control on board the tanker, 32 deficiencies were identified regarding its technical condition, according to the Finnish Transport and Communications Authority (Traficom). Inspectors found serious deficiencies in fire protection, navigation equipment, and the ventilation of a pump room. Addressing these issues was a prerequisite for the 'Eagle S' to be returned to service. On March 2, 2025, it was announced that the Finnish authorities had released the 'Eagle S'. The Finnish police stated that the technical investigations on the vessel had been completed. Of the eight crew members, five were permitted to leave Finland, while three were required to remain. The captain and two officers, now on trial in Helsinki, claimed that it was not sabotage, but a combination of mechanical defects, inadequate maintenance, and bad weather that caused the 'Eagle S' to drag its anchor. Finnish prosecutors alleged that the tanker deliberately dragged its anchor for 50 nautical miles, damaging five submarine cables. The prosecution is seeking a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the three individuals for this offense and negligence. The European Union believes that the 'Eagle S' was part of the shadow fleet, which Russia uses to circumvent the oil embargo that came into effect on December 5, 2022, as well as the price cap on Russian-origin oil products that came into effect on Feb 5, 2023. Photo: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10162216294055036&set=g.6884293942
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