Finland's public transport agency said on Wednesday that an oil tanker suspected of damaging undersea cables in the Baltic Sea has been found to have serious deficiencies and will not be allowed to operate until repairs have been made.

On Tuesday, January 7, specialists discovered the anchor of the tanker Eagle S at the bottom of the Gulf of Finland. The vessel likely "lost" it during the breakage of several underwater cables, Yle reports.

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.

In a similar operation, Finland in 2023 recovered an anchor it said belonged to a Chinese container vessel suspected of damaging a gas pipeline and several fibre-optic links. The case remains under investigation. Finland has said China is cooperating with Finnish authorities in that probe.

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.

Finnish police continue to investigate the rupture of the EstLink 2 power cable in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia. Patrol ships are trying to find an anchor with which a tanker with Russian gasoline could catch on the power cable.

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.

The anchor of the Eagle S oil tanker has been recovered from the bed of the Baltic Sea during an inquiry into the ship's possible involvement in sabotage of maritime energy and communication cables. The EU says the tanker belongs to the so-called Russian shadow fleet.