They dragged an anchor for 130 km along the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Damaged cables and a verdict

Captain Andrei Makismienko received a 3.5-year prison sentence, while crew member Wusal Mejidov was sentenced to 2 years and 10 months for damaging underwater cables in the Baltic Sea. The court found them responsible for dragging an anchor that damaged two telecommunications cables leading to Estonia. The incident occurred in Estonia's exclusive economic zone, and both defendants denied guilt. The cargo ship, carrying Russian steel from St. Petersburg to Haifa, was seized by Finnish authorities in December 2025. This incident is part of a series of underwater infrastructure damages in the Baltic, raising concerns of sabotage linked to Russia's hybrid warfare against the West. Finland is increasingly responding to these threats, conducting maritime security exercises.