A Finnish court on Friday denied a request for the release of an oil tanker suspected by police of damaging an undersea power line and four telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea last week. Finland on Dec.

A Finnish court on Friday denied a request for the release of an oil tanker suspected by police of damaging an undersea power line and four telecommunications cables last week. Finland on Dec. 26 seized the Eagle S tanker carrying Russian oil on suspicion that it damaged the Finnish-Estonian Estlink 2 power line as well as the telecoms cables the previous day by dragging its anchor across the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Finnish police said on Thursday they are investigating whether a foreign ship was involved in the damage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia following a sudden outage on Wednesday.

G rey-zone operations, hybrid warfare, slicing the salami: there are many terms for Russia’s use of covert attacks that leave opponents unsure how to respond. The latest theatre seems to be the Baltic Sea. Twice in the past two months, commercial ships with Russian links have been accused of damaging cables by dragging their anchors.

The damaged cable is one of several recent incidents in the Baltic Sea under investigation as possible acts of sabotage.

Finland's national power grid operator said on Thursday it had asked a Helsinki court to seize the Eagle S oil tanker in a bid to secure the company's claim for damages related to the breakdown of the undersea Estlink 2 electricity interconnector.