A court in Helsinki has jailed the Russian captain and the Azerbaijani bosun of the cargo ship Fitburg for cutting undersea telecom cables in the Gulf of Finland, after the vessel dragged its anchor across the seabed on New Year’s Eve 2025.
The Helsinki District Court announced the verdict on Thursday, November 5, 2026, according to Finnish public broadcaster Yle.
The captain received a prison term of 42 months, while the boatswain was handed 34 months.
Both crew members’ sentences are unconditional, and the court ordered the immediate detention of the two men, ending the travel bans that had kept them in Finland since the ship was seized on December 31, 2025. The vessel was on its way from Russia to Israel at the time.
According to the court, the ship’s anchor and chain trailed along the seabed for about 130 km over several hours, which severed two cables connecting Helsinki and Tallinn.
The judges ruled that neither man could
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