Finland Moves Eagle S Tanker Closer to Land as Probe Intensifies

-- Police in Finland are transferring the seized oil tanker Eagle S closer to land as they step up their investigation into damage caused to undersea cables this week. Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation detained the vessel, sailing under the Cook Islands flag, two days ago after discovering damage to a subsea power link and several data cables as it probes for possible aggravated criminal mischief. The Eagle S was loaded with transmitting and receiving devices that effectively allowed it to become a “spy ship” for Russia, the specialist shipping publication Lloyd’s List reported on Friday, citing a source who wasn’t identified familiar with a vessel that provided commercial maritime services to the tanker in recent months. “Ships are damaging important undersea cables in the Baltic Sea with almost monthly frequency at the moment,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told the Funke media group late Friday. “This is an urgent wake-up call for us all.” A year earlier, the anchor of Newnew Polar Bear, a Hong Kong-flagged ship, tore up at least two data cables and a gas pipeline, prompting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to step up patrols in the Baltic Sea.