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🔴 Central
5 Nov 2026
🇫🇮 What is said about Finland
A Helsinki court convicted the Russian captain and an Azerbaijani senior crew member of the Fitburg for damaging two undersea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland. The captain was jailed for three and a half years and the crew member for two years and 10 months; Finland had seized the ship over suspected damage to cables linking Helsinki and Tallinn. Finland has stepped up protection of its undersea infrastructure following a series of cable and pipeline incidents in the Baltic.
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Finland seized the Fitburg freighter last year over the suspected sabotage of cables linking Helsinki and Tallinn. A Finnish court on Thursday convicted the Russian captain and a senior crew member of the cargo ship Fitburg for damaging two undersea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland last year. The Helsinki District Court found the two defendants guilty of “aggravated criminal damage.” The defendants denied any wrongdoing and have questioned Finland’s jurisdiction in the case. Finnish authorities seized the vessel on December 31 on suspicion that it had damaged cables linking Finland’s capital, Helsinki, and Tallinn, Estonia. Finnish police at the time said the ship had been dragging its anchor for hours when it was discovered. Finland has stepped up efforts to protect its undersea infrastructure following a series of incidents involving cables and pipelines in the Baltic Sea since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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