Two vessels pass near damaged power line in Finland - Media

A representative of the Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid, Arto Pahkin, said that the version of intentional malicious actions is not ruled out.

"This is one of the versions we are considering. Because two vessels are in the area where the cables are located," he said.

However, he clarified that he does not know which country the vessels are associated with. Pahkin added that "in a few hours" it will become clear what exactly happened to the cables.

Journalists, using a ship tracking service, found that one of the vessels is Xin Xin Tian 2, which sails under the flag of Hong Kong. It is allegedly a "sister" ship of the Chinese Newnew Polar Bear, which is involved in an investigation of another incident in the Gulf of Finland — the anchor-damaged gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland in the fall of 2023.

According to the Vesselfinder service, Xin Xin Tian 2 passed over the cable around the same time the Estlink 2 outage occurred — at 12:26 on December 25.

Xin Xin Tian 2 is reportedly owned by the logistics company Hainan Yangpu, which is part of the Torgmol group, with close ties to Russia.

Earlier today, it was reported about the damage to the underwater electric cable Estlink 2, which connects Finland and Estonia.

Pipeline damage

The report mentions damage to the gas pipeline between Estonia and Finland. This occurred on the night of October 8. At that time, a malfunction was detected in the communication cable of the gas pipeline between the countries. Media outlets reported that Russia could have been behind the damage to the pipeline.

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo stated that the pipeline might have been deliberately damaged, and law enforcement authorities began investigating the incident as an act of vandalism. NATO has expressed its readiness to assist in the investigation.