The Swedish Navy’s Belos has retrieved the anchor of the Eagle S — the vessel suspected of damaging an underwater cable between Finland and Estonia — from the Gulf of Finland. The discovery was reported by the Finnish publication Yle.
From now on, ten NATO ships will patrol the Gulf of Finland to ensure security.
In late December, the Eagle S, which left the Russian port of Ust-Luga, was detained in the Gulf of Finland after allegedly damaging the EstLink 2 cable connecting Estonia and Finland.
The Daily Mail later published footage of the Eagle S tanker showing one anchor missing. In older photos of the tanker, it had two anchors, visible even when raised.
As an expert explained to The Insider, the crew sometimes cuts off the anchor when it gets stuck on a massive obstacle that threatens the ship. An underwater cable is one example of such an obstacle. “They may have been trying to rupture the cable but hooked it so unsuccessfully that they broke the anchor,” the expert suggested.
According to the source of Loyd’s List, the tanker is outfitted with espionage equipment to monitor the activities of NATO naval forces and aviation.
