Russian shadow fleet keeps the Finnish coastguard busy

A tanker from the so-called Russian shadow fleet, the "Eagle S" sailing under the flag of the Cook Islands, was seized by the Finnish coastguard on suspicion of sabotaging an undersea power cable. The countries concerned, Finland and Estonia, would have had to fear much greater damage had the Finnish Coast Guard (Rajavartiolaitos) not reacted with lightning speed and stopped the ship. If it had travelled just a few miles further, it could also have severely damaged the second power connection - with drastic consequences for the Estonian power supply. Just a few miles further west is the Balticconnector, a natural gas pipeline between Ingå in Finland and Paldiski in Estonia, which was severely damaged by the "Polar Bear", a ship sailing under the Hong Kong flag, in October 2023. The pipeline, which was repaired in the summer, may have been at risk again.

The Finns didn't hesitate for long

The tanker apparently dragged its anchor along the bottom for up to 50 nautical miles. This was apparently the result of Finnish sonar analyses. The chain was still in the water and the anchor was missing when officials boarded the ship for inspection. Sami Paila, a Finnish Coast Guard official told local broadcaster Yle: "The trail ends where the ship lifted the anchor chain. There are several dozen kilometres east of that point, if not almost a hundred kilometres. It's part of the evidence being collected in this case, and a very significant one." Assuming that the ship was travelling at a speed of 5 knots (around 9km/h), it must have ploughed the seabed unnoticed for 10 hours. As Robin Häggblom (Corporal Frisk), a Finnish defence expert, wrote on LinkedIn, the coast guard ship "Turva" caught the tanker in the act. It was boarded by the special police unit ("Karhu") with an H215 Super Puma. In other words, the operation was organised by the Ministry of the Interior and the law enforcement authorities. The tanker is now being investigated for three criminal offences: serious vandalism, serious misdemeanour and serious interference with telecommunications. The ship was initially directed to Kilpilahti, an oil harbour south of Porvoo, for further investigation. The crew was interrogated, but there was initially no word on the contents. As reported by ARD, the Finnish authorities have confiscated the tanker.

Suspicion of espionage?

Lloyd's List had reported that the "Eagle S" had carried sophisticated signalling equipment on at least one of its earlier voyages and that the crew had been told to keep quiet about it. The mobile equipment was brought on board only seven months ago and completely removed at the end of the voyage, the unnamed source said. Finnish police dismissed the report as a "rumour" in comments to Yle, saying that no such equipment was found on the Eagle S at the time of her arrest. There has been no statement from the Finnish police and other sources have not yet confirmed the Lloyd's List report. Other Finnish sources have not yet commented on this. The question therefore arises as to whether the Russians are really so foolish as to use a ship from the shadow fleet as a SIGINT ship and also commit acts of sabotage. It must be clear that a ship with the right of free passage forfeits its rights if it is convicted of serious criminal offences.

And the next ones are already lurking

On 29 December, it became known that another ship from the so-called shadow fleet was observed sailing strange courses in the Gulf of Finland. It was travelling in loops around 20 miles west of the island of Gogland - very unusual for a large ship. As @Siljalynx reported on "X", it was the crude oil tanker "Line" registered in Guinea-Bissau. It was also observed by the "Turva". Apparently the ship is adrift or has a defect. A day later, the "Eastern Glory" was also found in the sea area with similarly absurd tracks. This is a 245 metre long crude oil tanker flying the flag of Gabon - on its way to Primorsk, Russia, according to marinetraffic. The tanker "Neon", also flying the Cook Islands flag, was also travelling in a serpentine course and was observed by the FNS 42 Vahterpaa, an OPV of the Finnish Navy.

What is behind the shadow fleet?

The circumvention of sanctions: Russia needs revenue and exports oil and petrol in this way via a secondary dubious fleet of partly uninsured and dubiously registered ships. It is estimated that the fleet linked to Russia now accounts for more than 15 per cent of the global tanker fleet. It is to be feared that this tanker fleet is not only used for sabotage purposes, but also for military reconnaissance. During the Cold War, there was a covert fishing fleet that was part of a signals intelligence programme. In NATO, this was called "Auxiliary, General Intelligence (AGI) - Trawler". Older members of the navy remember that these AGI were to be found off the German coast as far as Olpenitz and Kiel, the "Okean class" was often photographed.

German reactions

In the short time between the holidays, we cannot expect substantial and coordinated reactions from the government. But we can expect them to realise that this is something that concerns us. Rarely has the news reported in unison on a maritime event as quickly as we are currently experiencing it. And so it comes as no surprise that at yesterday's Federal Press Conference (BPK), the topic was asked about, but the spokespeople were unable to provide any substantive answers. It only became clear that both the BMI and the BMVg are responsible and that there is no "wrangling". The references to the organisation of the navy, the position of NATO, the inspector's statement on the Baltic Sea ("all in") and on equipping the federal police were clear, but we should not be too optimistic about whether our politicians are prepared to take similar resolute measures as the Finns.

Text and editing: hsc