A court in Helsinki has sent the master and a crew member of the general cargo ship Fitburg to prison for deliberately damaging two undersea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland on New Year’s Eve 2025.
The sentences
- Captain Andrei Maksimenko (Russia): three years and six months
- Bosun Vusal Majidov (Azerbaijan): two years and ten months
- Offence: aggravated criminal damage
- Both were ordered into custody at once and must pay compensation for the damaged infrastructure.
What happened
Finnish authorities stopped the St Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged Fitburg on 31 December 2025 as it carried steel products from St Petersburg towards Israel. Investigators found the ship had dragged its damaged anchor and chain along the seabed for roughly 130 km, cutting two telecom cables owned by Elisa and Arelion Finland.
On its way the anchor also crossed seven other telecom and power cables and a gas pipeline, putting more critical infrastructure at risk.
How the court reasoned
The court found the anchor was dropped after the ship left St Petersburg but while it was still in Russian waters. Prosecutors did not argue that the captain personally ordered it lowered, but the judges ruled that both men must have known it was dragging as the voyage continued. The bosun was also found to have helped keep the ship moving for about two hours after Finnish authorities first contacted it.
The defendants denied the charges and said Finland had no jurisdiction because the damage happened outside its territorial waters. The court disagreed, saying it could hear the case because the acts were intentional and their effects were felt in Finland. A separate charge of aggravated interference with telecommunications was dropped, as it was covered by the main conviction.
Not the last word
The verdict can still be appealed. The captain’s lawyer has said he will appeal, and the bosun is considering doing the same.
The case follows another Baltic incident involving the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S, whose crew was charged over damage to five undersea cables in December 2024. That case was first thrown out on jurisdiction grounds in October 2025, but an appeals court reversed the decision in August 2026 and sent it back for a new hearing.
Based on reporting by Splash247, 5 November 2026.
Photo: Representative image: a bulk carrier at a terminal (not the Fitburg). Calistemon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
