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Captain Vadatchkoria declares himself innocent

The Georgian captain Davit Vadatchkoria of the 'Eagle S' for the first time he has given his version of events on board the tanker after Estlink 2, an important power cable between Finland and Estonia, had stopped working. When the ship was boarded, Davit Vadachkoria says he did not know about the cable breaks. Earlier in the evening, the Border Guard vessel 'Turva' had approached the 'Eagle S' outside Porkala, made contact and reported that the anchor chain was out. Vadatchkoria then decided to stop his vessel and haul up the anchor. Then he noticed that it was gone, describing it as one of the worst things he had experienced during his career as a tanker captain. He asked the commander of the 'Turva' for permission to continue the route westward, towards the Danish Strait and on to Egypt, which was the destination for the unleaded gasoline and diesel oil in the cargo. According to Davit Vadatchkoria, the 'Turva's commander refused to budge, who wanted to continue talking and repeated that the 'Eagle S' should steer into Finnish waters to anchor. Vadatchkoria knew that he was in international waters, and that Finnish authorities only had limited rights to command merchant ships out there. He chose to follow the order anyway. At the new anchorage, he had expected port authorities and insurance representatives to board the 'Eagle S' calmly and safely with the help of the 'Turva's inflatable boats. Instead he received orders to gather the entire crew except for the three highest officers in the mess. Then the tanker was boarded with helicopters, and the boarding team confiscated electronic equipment such as computers, cameras and phones.According to the captain, they had spent two nights sleeping on the floor of the mess. During that time, each crew member was questioned. After that, one crew member needed psychological support, and another was taken to hospital for treatment of a blood clot. A few days later, the ship was ordered into Sköldvik outside Porvoo to undergo a port state inspection. After initially refusing, Davit Vadatchkoria claimed that he was forced to comply with the authorities' demands at gunpoint, otherwise he would have been arrested, and then he would have completely lost control of the ship and the crew. By this point, it was clear that the 'Eagle S' was singled out as the ship that had not only severed an electrical cable but also four communication cables, and a total of eight people on board were suspected of crimes. Suspicions remain against three officers, Captain Davit Vadatchkoria and the first and second mates. Indictments have been brought and the trial will begin in the Helsinki District Court on Aug 25. The three are suspected of aggravated sabotage and aggravated disruption of postal and telecommunications traffic. The indictment contains alternative crime categories that are milder, such as aggravated damage and causing public danger. Jukka Rappe, Deputy Prosecutor General, believes that the actions were intentional. Jukka Rappe brought charges last week and the next step is the trial, which is expected to take a couple of weeks. Jukka Rappe has said that there is not necessarily any conspiracy behind it, which can be interpreted as the fact that no money transfers from the Kremlin have been found and no conversation that proves that the 'Eagle S' had a secret mission to tear up cables in order to destabilize the Nordic countries. Together with his lawyers, Davit Vadatchkoria has gone through the entire preliminary investigation on hundreds of pages. Captain Davit Vadatchkoria believes that it was an accident and that a detailed technical and structural investigation would now be required. He also points out that the severe weather exposed the ship to extra stress. The question whether the crew should have discovered that the anchor had gone out and dragged the ship for 90 kilometers, was answered with yes by prosecutor Jukka Rappe and no by captain Davit Vadatchkoria, who claimed that he could prove that there were no heeling movements or course changes that would have caused an alarm from the autopilot, nor were any increasing vibrations, impacts or bouncing movements noticed that would have indicated that the anchor had been dragged. No abnormal noises from scraping chain or smoke were detected from the anchor windlass. According to Vadatchkoria, there were no visible dents or distortions and no traces of soot, which would usually be the case when the anchor has been lowered uncontrolled. Eagle S lost a couple of knots of speed just before 12.26 on Christmas Day when the electric cable broke. This could be explained by the anchor starting to drag at that time. But according to Davit Vadatchkoria, the change in speed was not something they reacted to. The wind had picked up, the wave height increased and other nearby ships also lost speed. Davit Vadatchkoria and the two other suspects have been held in Finland with a travel ban. They have been living in Helsinki since. Report with photos: https://yle.fi/a/7-10082866

Charges brought against captain and two officers

The Deputy Prosecutor General of Finland confirmed on Aug 11 that charges have been brought against the captain and the first and second officers of the 'Eagle S', related to the damage to five undersea cables on Dec 25, 2024. The captain, a Georgian national, along with the two officers of Indian nationality, were charged with aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications. The charges also included alternative indictments. Further details could be released by the District Court when the hearings begin. The investigation showed that the tanker departed the Ust-Luga terminal with a cargo of oil products. On Dec 25, they believed the vessel dragged its anchor on the seabed for about 90 kilometres, damaging the five cables. The prosecutors report in addition to the critical interruption of services, the companies incurred costs of at least €60 million for the repairs. The defendants have denied that they committed the offences for which they are being charged. Further, they have also questioned Finland’s jurisdiction. They contended the country lacks the right to bring the charges as the damage happened in international waters. The three individuals have been detained in Finland since the incident occurred. Finnish authorities originally has detained nine individuals, instructing them not to leave Finland, but later focused on the three top officers from the tanker. The Helsinki District Court will set a date for the hearing of the case. If necessary, it will also resolve the issue of Finnish jurisdiction.

Officers could be charged by end of August

Three officers of the 'Eagle S', who have been detained in Finland since Christmas Day after their ship severed multiple subsea cables in the Baltic Sea, could be charged with criminal offenses within the next two months, according to Jukka Rappe, Finland’s deputy prosecutor general, who said that the prosecutors expected to make their decision over whether to bring charges against the men by August at the latestt. The NBI announced on June 13 that its criminal investigation had been completed and had upheld the suspicions of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with telecommunications. The suspects, who were believed to be Georgian nationals, were the three most senior officers on board the Russia-linked oil tanker. The ship was seized by Finnish authorities after dragging its anchor along the seafloor for almost 62 miles, amid concerns over Russian sabotage and subversion activities in Europe. The rest of the crew and the ship were freed to depart in March. According to Finland’s Criminal Code, which does not contain a specific offense for sabotage, aggravated criminal mischief carries a minimum prison sentence of two years and a maximum of 10, while the sentence for aggravated interference with telecommunications ranges between four months and five years. The decision to formally charge the three men rests with prosecutors. Pre-trial investigation of the 'Eagle S case has been completed, and the case transferred to the Office of the Prosecutor General for consideration of charges. The Eagle S had also been investigated by Traficom, the Finnish transport and communications agency, which dentified deficiencies aboard, both in terms of its crew accommodation and the general maintenance of the ship, particularly in regards to fire safety, navigation equipment and pump room ventilation.