The captain of Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S, Georgian national Davit Vadatchkoria attends a trial over sabotage at the District Court in Helsinki, Finland on August 25, 2025. Photo by Roni Rekomaa / Lehtikuva / AFP
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.
The prosecution, meanwhile, maintains the crew neglected their duties intentionally.
"If a ship drags an anchor behind it for several hours for 90 kilometers, is it really possible that no one would notice?" prosecutor Mikko Larkia asked.
According to the charge sheet, the defendants "neglected to investigate the reason for the drop in speed and engine revolutions, even though it was clear that they were caused by an external force that was affecting the ship".
The EstLink 2 power cable and four telecommunications cables connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged.
Finland's energy supply and critical infrastructure were threatened by the incident, according to prosecutors.
The three are formally charged with "aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications".
The prosecution has said it plans to seek prison sentences of at least two and a half years.
The ship had left the Russian port Ust-Luga, heading for the Mediterranean Sea via the Gulf of Finland when the anchor fell to the seabed.
The cost of repairing the cables has amounted to at least 60 million euros ($70 million) for the owners, according to prosecutors.
The defence meanwhile argued that Finland does not have jurisdiction to try the case because the cables were located outside Finnish territorial waters.
But the prosecution insists it does, because of the risk posed to Finland's critical infrastructure.
