Moment Russian ship 'crammed with spy equipment' raided as NATO boosts patrols
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Pictures show the moment Finnish police and border guards boarded a Russian-linked ship reportedly crammed with ‘spy equipment’ and suspected of vandalising a key undersea cable. The authorities suspect the oil tanker Eagle S of dragging its anchor to rupture of the Estlink 2 power link between Finland and Estonia. In response, NATO is urgently boosting patrols in the Gulf of Finland, a busy seaway also widely used by Russian naval and commercial shipping.
The pictures show how Finnish law enforcement boarded the vessel from a helicopter. The Cook Islands-registered 751-ft long Eagle S is suspected of being part of the Russian ‘shadow’ or ‘dark’ fleet operated by Vladimir Putin to evade sanctions.
To outward appearances it was a badly maintained oil tanker, but sources told Lloyd’s List that it was acting as a “spy ship” for Russia, with high-tech equipment for radio reconnaissance of NATO ships and aircraft on board. “The hi-tech equipment on board was abnormal for a merchant ship and consumed more power from the ship’s generator, leading to repeated blackouts,” reported Lloyd’s List, citing a source familiar with the vessel.
But it is now detained by the Finns amid suspicion it was behind the most recent damage to key undersea cables in the Baltic Sea in a deliberate attempt to disrupt NATO states which are backing Ukraine in the war. The Eagle S has previously dropped “sensors-type devices” in the English Channel during a transit, said the British-owned shipping industry publication.
