Finland jails captain and crew member over Baltic cable sabotage

Finland jails captain and crew member over Baltic cable sabotage
Adis Ajdin November 5, 2026 https://splash247.com/finland-jails-captain-and-crew-member-over-baltic-...

A Finnish court has sentenced the captain and a crew member of the general cargo ship Fitburg to prison for deliberately damaging two subsea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland on New Year’s Eve last year.

Helsinki District Court handed Russian captain Andrei Maksimenko a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence, while Azerbaijani bosun Vusal Majidov received two years and 10 months after both were convicted of aggravated criminal damage.

The court ordered the two men, who had been subject to travel bans during proceedings, to be taken into custody immediately. They were also ordered to pay compensation for the damage caused to subsea infrastructure.

The case centres on the St Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged Fitburg, which was intercepted by Finnish authorities on December 31, 2025, while sailing from St Petersburg to Israel carrying steel products.

Investigators established that the vessel had dragged its damaged anchor and chain along the seabed for around 130 km, damaging two telecommunications cables belonging to Elisa and Arelion Finland.

The anchor also crossed seven other telecommunications and power cables and a gas pipeline, creating a risk of further damage to critical infrastructure.

The court found that the anchor had been lowered after the ship departed St Petersburg but before it left Russian territorial waters. Although prosecutors did not claim that the captain had personally ordered the anchor lowered, the court ruled that both men must have known it was dragging while the vessel continued its voyage.

It also found that the bosun had actively contributed to the ship continuing for around two hours after Finnish authorities first contacted the vessel.

Both defendants denied wrongdoing and challenged Finland’s jurisdiction, arguing that the damage occurred outside its territorial waters.

The court rejected that argument, ruling that Finnish courts could hear the case because the offences were intentional and their consequences were felt in Finland.

The decision comes after a separate case involving the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S, whose crew faced charges over damage to five undersea cables in December 2024. Helsinki District Court initially dismissed that case on jurisdictional grounds in October 2025, but an appeals court overturned the decision in August this year and ordered the case to be reconsidered.

The Fitburg defendants were also charged with aggravated interference with telecommunications, but the court dismissed that separate count because it was covered by the aggravated criminal damage conviction.

The ruling is not final. The captain’s lawyer has indicated that he intends to appeal, while the bosun is also considering challenging the verdict.