The damage was discovered Wednesday on a telecommunications cable running between the Finnish and Estonian capitals, triggering an urgent security response from Helsinki amid growing fears over sabotage of Europe's critical infrastructure.

Border Guard officials said they intercepted and inspected the suspect vessel after finding it inside Finland's exclusive economic zone with its anchor lowered - a key detail investigators believe links the ship directly to the severed cable.

Police have now opened a criminal probe into aggravated criminal damage, attempted aggravated criminal damage and serious interference with telecommunications, describing the cable - owned by Finnish provider Elisa - as critical underwater infrastructure.

All 14 crew members were detained, local media reported. 

The ship, the Fitburg, was sailing from Russia to Israel and is registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines. The crew includes nationals of Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.

Finnish National Police Commissioner Ilkka Koskimäki told local media that investigators are not speculating on whether a state-level actor was behind the damage. 

Koskimäki also said the ship had been dragging its anchor for hours.

'Finland is prepared for security challenges of various kinds, and we respond to them as necessary,' Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on social platform X.

The undersea cables and pipelines that crisscross one of the busiest shipping lanes in Europe link Nordic, Baltic and central European countries. 

They promote trade and energy security and, in some cases, reduce dependence on Russian energy resources.

Earlier this year, Finnish authorities charged the captain and two senior officers of a Russia-linked vessel that damaged undersea cables between Finland and Estonia on Christmas Day in 2024.

The Finnish deputy prosecutor general said in a statement in August that charges of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications were filed against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker.

 Their names were not made public. The statement said they denied the allegations.

The Kremlin previously denied involvement in damaging the infrastructure, which provides power and communication for thousands of Europeans.

The Eagle S was flagged in the Cook Islands but had been described by Finnish customs officials and the European Union's executive commission as part of Russia's shadow fleet of fuel tankers.