A court in Helsinki has sentenced the captain and boatswain of the cargo ship Fitburg (IMO number 9250397) to unsuspended prison terms for damaging cables in the Gulf of Finland in December 2025, Yle reports. The two men were detained — along with the vessel — on New Year’s Eve.
The ship’s captain, Russian national Andrei Maksimenko, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. The boatswain, Azerbaijani citizen Vusal Mejidov, was sentenced to two years and 10 months.
Both were found guilty of aggravated criminal damage and will also be required to cover the cost of repairing the cables and the gas pipeline in the gulf, as well as the cost of the investigation into the damage.
The verdict has not yet entered into force and may be appealed, as Maksimenko and Mejidov pleaded not guilty.
The cargo ship Fitburg was detained on Dec. 31, 2025, on suspicion of severing a telecommunications cable between Helsinki and Tallinn. The Fitburg was found near the site of the incident with its anchor chain lowered into the water. About two weeks later, the authorities lifted the arrest of the vessel, but the crew members, the boatswain, and the captain were ordered to be held in custody for the duration of the investigation against them.
