Finland Refused to Try Captain of Eagle S Tanker for Damaging Cables in Baltic Sea

Finland has refused to try the crew of the Eagle S tanker, which is suspected of deliberately damaging submarine cables in the Baltic Sea last year. The ship was transporting oil products from Russia.

This is reported by Yle.

On Friday, the Helsinki District Court ruled that Finland does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the captain of the Eagle S tanker and his two assistants.

This means that the court completely dismissed the charges against the sailors. Now Finland must pay the sailors’ legal fees, which amount to approximately €195 thousand.

The prosecutor demanded that the ship’s captain Davit Vadachkoria and the captain’s assistants Robert Eghizaryan and Santosh Kumar Chaurasia should be sentenced to at least 2.5 years in prison.

During the trial, the lawyer of the Eagle S’s owner, as well as the defendants, emphasized that Finland had no jurisdiction in the case. Now the district court has made the same decision.

The court has been considering the case since the end of August. During this time, several witnesses were heard and written evidence was submitted. The Central Criminal Police investigated the case for about six months.

In its ruling, the Helsinki District Court noted that criminal jurisdiction over cable damage in the Gulf of Finland belonged either to the flag state of the Eagle S or to the courts of the accused’s countries of nationality, in accordance with international treaties.

According to the court, the crimes charged by the prosecutor took place in the exclusive economic zone of Finland, but the investigative actions against the Eagle S and its crew were carried out in Finnish territorial waters.

“Since the alleged crimes were committed before the vessel arrived in Finnish territorial waters, the scope of application of Finnish criminal law cannot be based on legal provisions relating to territorial waters,” the court said.

As a reminder, the investigation claimed that the Eagle S tanker had deliberately dragged its anchor along the seabed to damage the Estlink 2 electric cable connecting Finland and Estonia, as well as four internet cables in December 2024.

Finland detained the tanker almost immediately after the incident, and it was anchored near Helsinki for more than two months. However, in March 2025, the court lifted the arrest of the Eagle S, after which the vessel left Finnish territorial waters.