Helsinki court jails Fitburg captain for damaging Gulf of Finland cables

The Helsinki District Court has issued significant prison sentences for two crew members of the cargo ship Fitburg, finding them guilty of causing damage to underwater telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland. The incident, which occurred in late 2025, resulted in the severing of critical infrastructure connecting Finland and Estonia.

Russian captain Andrei Maksimenko was convicted of aggravated criminal damage and ordered to serve three years and six months in prison. The ship's boatswain, Vusal Majidov, an Azerbaijani national, received a sentence of two years and ten months. Both defendants were taken into custody immediately following the verdict in the courtroom.

The court ruled that the convicted sailors are financially responsible for compensating the affected companies. This includes covering the expenses for repairing the telecommunications networks and the gas pipeline, as well as paying the legal costs associated with the investigation.

These sentences were notably stricter than the prison terms requested by prosecutors, who had sought a minimum of two and a half years. The court dismissed the additional charge of aggravated interference with telecommunications, determining that this specific offence was already encompassed by the primary charge of aggravated criminal damage.

The verdict is not yet final, as both men deny their guilt and retain the right to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal. The legal proceedings followed a period of detention and investigation that began at the end of 2025.

According to the court's findings, the cargo ship dragged its anchor and anchor chain along the seabed for several hours over a distance of nearly 130 kilometers. This action severed two underwater cables belonging to the Finnish telecommunications company Elisa, which ran between Helsinki and Tallinn.

The court noted that the crew's actions created a real threat of damage to seven other communication and electricity cables, in addition to a gas pipeline in the area. The vessel had departed from the port of St Petersburg the day before the incident.

Evidence presented to the court showed that the anchor securing mechanism was in working order and that the anchor had been raised when the ship left port. The indictment did not claim that the captain directly ordered the anchor to be lowered, nor that the boatswain actively lowered it. However, the court concluded that both men were aware the anchor was down while the vessel sailed past the sensitive infrastructure.

The initial detention of the Fitburg occurred on December 31, 2025. Finnish authorities stopped the ship, which was traveling from Russia to Israel, on suspicion of damaging a telecommunications cable. While the vessel was released two weeks later, several crew members were prohibited from leaving Finland. The investigation into the matter was completed in June 2026.