Finland jails the Fitburg's captain for three and a half years over Baltic cable damage
A Helsinki court on Thursday 5 November 2026 jailed the Russian captain of the cargo ship Fitburg, Andrei Maksimenko, for three years and six months and its Azerbaijani boatswain, Vusal Majidov, for two years and ten months, convicting both over the dragging of the ship's anchor through two subsea telecommunications cables in the Gulf of Finland on New Year's Eve 2025. The court found the two acted intentionally, ordered them taken into custody immediately and ordered about €1.9 million in damages; both men had denied wrongdoing, and the captain's lawyer says he will appeal. Reports translate the Finnish offence variously as aggravated sabotage and aggravated criminal damage — the sentences and the findings are the same in every account.
Key points
- Helsinki District Court, Thursday: Fitburg captain Andrei Maksimenko jailed for 3 years 6 months; boatswain Vusal Majidov for 2 years 10 months; both taken into custody immediately.
- The court found the anchor was dragged about 130 km across the Gulf of Finland seabed, damaging two telecom cables and endangering seven more cables and a gas pipeline.
- About €1.9 million in damages ordered; the separate telecom-interference charge was dismissed as covered by the main conviction.
- Both men denied wrongdoing; the captain will appeal, so the ruling is not final. Yle: Finland's first conviction in an underwater-cable case.
What happened
The case began on the last morning of 2025. Elisa noticed a disruption in its Helsinki–Tallinn data cable at 04:53 on 31 December; Finnish authorities boarded the St Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged Fitburg — sailing from St Petersburg to Haifa with a 14-strong crew from Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan — found its anchor lowered, and escorted it to Kantvik harbour. The National Bureau of Investigation concluded the anchor had clearly damaged the cables, and the trial ran for eight hearing days between 8 September and 8 October 2026.
The verdict lands in a Baltic Sea that has seen a string of cable and pipeline incidents since 2022, which Finland has answered by stepping up protection of its undersea infrastructure. It is legally distinct from the earlier Eagle S case, a separate prosecution over damage to five cables in December 2024. No Finnish authority has accused Russia or any other state of directing the Fitburg's crew — the convictions are of two seafarers for what the court found they themselves did intentionally.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Verified on three independent routes to the court's statement: Reuters' report (carried by DevDiscourse), PA's report (Glasgow Times) and Yle's reporting (via SeaWanderer) agree on the convictions, both sentences, the immediate custody and the first-conviction point. One honest variance: English reports translate the Finnish offence (törkeä tuhotyö) variously — Reuters and PA say "aggravated sabotage", other reports say "aggravated criminal damage" or "aggravated criminal mischief" — so this page names the offence both ways rather than picking one translation as the fact; the verdict, findings and sentences do not vary between accounts.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Verified from the court's statement as reported in agreement by Safety4Sea's detailed account (read in full in this run), Splash247 and SeaWanderer/Yle — the distance, the two damaged cables, the seven-plus-pipeline exposure, the locking-mechanism finding and the jurisdiction reasoning match across all three.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: Verified from Reuters' reading of the verdict (via DevDiscourse: the €1.9 million joint figure and the captain's additional €85,000, read in this run), with the dismissal of the separate charge in agreement across PA, Safety4Sea and Splash247.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Show all claims (1 more)
Why this label: Verified as the defence's stated position: the denials and the jurisdiction challenge are in Reuters' and PA's reports, and the appeal intentions are the lawyers' own words to Yle (via SeaWanderer and MonteOz, read in this run). An appeal intention is carried as exactly that — the convictions and sentences above are the court's, and they stand unless an appeal court changes them.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The verdict, the sentences and the damages, from the court's statement as reported by Reuters, PA and Yle in agreement.
- The court's findings on the anchor drag (about 130 km), the working locking mechanism and Finnish jurisdiction.
- That the ruling is not final: the captain's appeal intention is on the record.
What we don't know yet
- The outcome of the captain's announced appeal, and whether the boatswain also appeals.
- Whether any state directed or encouraged the crew — no Finnish authority has made that accusation, and the court case concerned the two men's own acts.
- The exact English name of the offence: Finnish törkeä tuhotyö is translated variously as aggravated sabotage, aggravated criminal damage and aggravated criminal mischief across reputable reports.
Why it matters
Europe's data and power run along seabed cables that a single dragged anchor can cut, and until now no court had convicted anyone for it. This judgment establishes that a Baltic coastal state can prosecute intentional cable damage committed largely outside its territorial waters — a precedent every shipping operator in the region, and every government weighing how to answer suspected hybrid attacks, now has to reckon with.
Background
Show the background timeline (4)
Elisa's Helsinki–Tallinn cable fails; Finnish forces board the Fitburg with its anchor lowered and escort it to Kantvik; the crew is detained (Finnish police; incident record).
Finland's National Bureau of Investigation states the cable was clearly damaged by the Fitburg's anchor in Estonia's exclusive economic zone.
The trial runs for eight hearing days in the Helsinki District Court; prosecutors seek at least two and a half years for each defendant.
The court convicts both men and imposes the sentences carried on this page.
Update history
No silent edits. Every change is written here, with its time.
- Latest
Published (crawler queue #1673, DW; worked with Reuters, PA and Yle reporting of the Helsinki District Court's statement, plus Safety4Sea and Splash247, read in this run). JUDGE AUDIT: (1) headline, slug, SEO title and summary state the same outcome — both men jailed over the cable damage, with the appeal position stated wherever the verdict is summarised. (2) Every claim is Verified on at least two independent routes to the court statement; the defence position is carried as a position, never as a finding. (3) Every number — 3 years 6 months, 2 years 10 months, about 130 km, two cables damaged, seven cables and a pipeline endangered, about €1.9 million plus €85,000 — traces to the named reports in the claims. (4) The offence-name translation variance across reputable reports is disclosed, not hidden. (6) Photo is the Fitburg itself, held at Kantvik after the incident — a real photo of this story's ship, labelled a file photo in its alt text; no official video of the verdict exists to embed. Translations: headline, summary and take labels in all 13 non-English languages at publish.