WHAT A DRAG: Finnish authorities say the tanker suspected of cutting multiple underwater cables in the Gulf of Finland apparently dragged its anchor for “up to 50 nautical miles.” If you have ever accidentally driven your car with the parking brake on – you know how annoying that can be. But in this case, the ship, named the “Eagle S,” is owned by a United Arab Emirates corporation and is reportedly “suspected” of carrying out sabotage operations on behalf of Russia. “Suspected” is an interesting word. Russian Media Monitor Julia Davis posted a video of State Duma member Alexander Kazakov where he is actually explaining ‘why’ Russia is cutting cables. The theory, apparently, is that Europe isn’t suffering nearly enough and needs to be punished even more after the war in Ukraine ends. On January 6, Finnish authorities recovered the missing anchor from the Baltic Sea bottom. The Eagle S is thought to be part of a shadow fleet used by Russia to evade sanctions on the sale of Russian oil. Like its once-lost anchor, the ship is now in Finnish custody.
DOWN IN FLAMES: While the claim hasn’t been fully verified yet, Ukrainian military intelligence says that one of their naval drones operating in the Black Sea shot down a Russian helicopter near Crimea. A Magura V5 unmanned surface vehicle (USV) is said to have fired a missile that took out an Mi-8 helicopter on New Year’s Eve. The Ukrainians released some grainy video of the action which, if accurate, would have been the first time an unmanned surface sea vessel took out a manned aircraft. No word on whether the Ukrainians have painted a helicopter profile on the side of the small USV.
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