
Ship crew on trial in Finland over Baltic Sea cable cuts
The Peninsula
Helsinki: Three crew members from a ship believed to belong to Russia s so called shadow fleet pleaded not guilty to sabotage in a Finnish court Monda...
Helsinki: Three crew members from a ship believed to belong to Russia's so-called shadow fleet pleaded not guilty to sabotage in a Finnish court Monday, after they were accused of cutting Baltic Sea cables.
The captain and two senior officers of the Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S are accused of dragging the ship's anchor on the seabed for around 90 kilometres (56 miles), damaging five undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland on December 25, 2024.
Captain Davit Vadatchkoria of Georgia, Robert Egizaryan of Georgia and Santosh Kumar Chaurasia of India appeared in court when the trial opened in Helsinki district court on Monday.
The defence insisted the incident was "an accident".
"This was a normal maritime incident, and not deliberate, not sabotage or anything else," Chaurasia told reporters during a pause in proceedings.













