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Eagle S Going Nowhere Finnish Court Rules - Captain and Crew Update [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-01-03
Eagle S is currently held by the Finns in Finnish waters for suspicion of criminal vandalism by cutting the Baltic Sea power cable and four telecommunications cables between Finland and Estonia on Christmas.
Earlier reports about the ship's captain were correct.
ERR News:
The Eagle S is currently moored off the coastal city of Porvoo/Borgå. Davit Vadattškoria, the ship's captain, is a Georgian citizen. He told Helsingin Sanomat both that he is indeed the captain and that the crew, impounded with the ship on Finnish territory following the incident last week, are all doing fine. "We are currently occupied with the investigation. Port state investigators are on board now."
When asked about the Eagle S dragging its anchor he said:
"Later, later. All the questions will be answered later. The investigation is ongoing, and I am not authorized to discuss anything with third parties, until it is concluded." This "was an ordinary maritime incident. Nothing more, nothing less. We are cooperating well with the [Finnish] police."
Eagle S moored off Porvoo.
..Finland's transport and communications agency Traficom is conducting an in port inspection of the vessel, which began on Thursday. "The inspection will take longer than one day," Sanna Sonninen, Traficom's director said.
The Maritime Executive:
Finnish investigators now have two more possible ways to detain the tanker Eagle S… In addition to the criminal inquiry initiated by Finnish law enforcement agencies, cable operator Fingrid has asked a court to detain the tanker pending separate civil litigation over the cost of infrastructure damage, which could potentially lead to the seizure of the vessel.
The attorney for Caravella LLC FZ, the ship's supposed owner, has called the criminal inquiry "speculation," and earlier called for the prompt release of the vessel during the first court hearing.
A separate civil detention order from the courts and a safety related detention by the Finnish Coast Guard would complicate the ship owner's appeal and make it more difficult for the tanker to depart. The tanker's cargo of gasoline has also been impounded pending the outcome of the Finnish customs inspection.
The crew members banned from traveling has gone from up from 7 to 8.
ERR News:
The crew of The Eagle S consists of 24, eight of which have had their movements restricted by the NBI. (Finnish National Bureau of Investigation)
Eagle S off Porvoo.
Head of Finland's central criminal police, Elina Katajamäki, said, "During the questioning and investigation, we have aimed to identify who was involved in the incident and who was responsible for the ship's route at the time."
Eagle S inspectors.
Meanwhile Finland's Border Guard is monitoring Russia's shadow fleet in the Gulf of Finland, focusing on preventing oil pollution. Deputy Commander IIja IIjin of the West Finland Coast Guard said, "If oil pollution happens, we will be working with the Estonian authorities to contain, combat, and contain the oil spill at sea. We have practiced this cooperation through tabletop exercises and operational drills."
YLE News:
A Finnish court on Friday ruled that's the Eagle S, shipping Russian oil under a Cook Islands flag, would remain impounded.
Media were present before the closed door hearing.
Vice-chair of the Defense Committee Mikko Savola, criticized the public visability of Finland's critical infrastructure, including on the internet. "Admittedly, we have been naïve in this society." He noted... plans are now being updated to ensure that the locations of all cables and pipelines don't need to be publicly visible.
It's understandable that they don't want additional undersea cables to be cut, but this complicates things in that if cable positions are unknown, possibly more actual accidents could occur. This would only work for new cables being laid because the current positions of everything out there now are known publicly.
The greatest threat posed by the "shadow fleet" or "dark fleet" is the environmental risk according to Defense Chair Kopra. These vessels are usually more than 15 years old with unknown ownership, and their sole purpose is to transport large amounts of oil and fuel. "A spill in the Gulf of Finland would be an environmental disaster."
Friday's court session proceeded behind closed doors against the wishes of Herman Ljungberg, the lawyer representing the oil tanker's crew and operator, Caravella. Ljungberg argued that he had not received a decision explaining why the vessel was boarded or why it was brought into Finnish territorial waters. The investigation is expected to last several months. National grid operator Fingrid and telecoms firm Elisa are also demanding that the Eagle S remain impounded as they seek to secure compensation for the damage caused to the cables.
The estimated cost of repair for the telecommunications cables is in the millions of dollars for each of the four cut, and tens of millions of dollars for the power cable.
YLE News:
The crew includes Georgian and Indian citizens, but the NBI would not comment on the nationality of those suspected of crimes.
Fingrid, the power cable owner, has filed an application with the Helsinki District Court on Thursday to seize the Eagle S for damage compensation.
Herman Ljungberg, Caravella's lawyer, besides being angry about the closed door session, remarked:
"You can't catch people like this. You can't stop other people's ships in international waters." However, the authorities have said that the ship voluntarily entered Finnish waters after being urged. He also reiterated his view that damage is a normal maritime event that occurs from time to time.
A lawyer being a lawyer. Trying to explain away the ship dragging its anchor for over 50 miles as being normal. Apparently, reporters did not ask him about all the spy gear.
With the expectation that the investigation is going take months, the cable owners filing for damages, and an ongoing criminal investigation, this will be a continuing story for some time.
Not one word in the current reports of all the signals intelligence hardware found on the Eagle S, or what was on those laptops with Russian and Turkish keyboards. Probably, that is all in the hands of the Finnish NBI. Another unknown. Could be that they don't have the authority to seize and remove it, yet. Or they took it and are going through it and aren't telling anybody.
Who said all of that about the equipment being there, as well as saying that the Eagle S had dropped sensors in the English Channel, or how they knew that another ship, the Swiftsea Rider, had similar hardware, is still unknown.
A Lloyd's List article said that the equipment had been offloaded from the Eagle S for analysis. No followups yet or their source.
In case all of this is new to you, here's the list of diaries, starting with the most recent:
Eagle S Crew Members Banned From Traveling
Russian Shadow Fleet Report
Eagle S and the Russian Shadow Fleet
The Eagle S Spy Ship
Finish Authorities Seize Ship Eagle S on Suspicion of Sabotage
Suspicious Cable Outage Between Finland and Estonia
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