Finland investigates break in undersea power cable with Estonia

The Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Estonia and Finland has been severed, and a deliberate act has not been ruled out. Finnish broadcaster YLE reported the news. Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo wrote on X that authorities are investigating the incident and that electricity supplies in Finland are not at risk.

Finnish transmission system operator Fingrid said the cause of the break is not yet clear and that deliberate action cannot be ruled out. It also said it could take several hours to locate the problem. The outage occurred at around noon.

The roughly 150-kilometre Estlink 2 power cable linked Porvoo in Finland with the Estonian town of Püssi in 2014, building on the Estlink 1 undersea connection. That cable, which remains in operation, connected Espoo in Finland with Harku in Estonia in 2006.

Estlink 1 had already enabled a close connection between the two countries and the European energy grid, which Estlink 2 further strengthened. Experts said at the time that this significantly reduced Estonia's dependence on energy supplies from Russia.

Sweden, Finland, Germany and Denmark are currently investigating a separate incident involving two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. One connected Lithuania with Sweden, the other Germany with Finland. Both were severed on 17 and 18 November. In response, the affected countries began speaking of sabotage. Germany and Finland, for example, also said that Russia's war against Ukraine and „hybrid warfare conducted by hostile actors“ pose a threat to Europe's security.

Suspicion has fallen on a ship sailing under the flag of China, an ally of Russia. Intelligence officials from several Western countries are certain, according to Reuters, that the vessel, which set out from Russia on its most recent voyage, was responsible for the cable breaks. It is not clear, however, whether it did so deliberately or whether it was an accident.