{
  "id": 18355650,
  "title": "Finnish court sentences Russian captain to 3.5 years for deliberately damaging Gulf of Finland cables",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/05/finnish-court-sentences-russian-captain-to-3-5-years-for-deliberately",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-05T18:15:14.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Meduza (English)",
    "slug": "meduza-english",
    "url": "https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/11/05/finnish-court-sentences-russian-captain-to-3-5-years-for-deliberately-damaging-gulf-of-finland-cables"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A Finnish court has sentenced the captain of the ship responsible for damaging undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland to three years and six months in prison, while his boatswain received a sentence of two years and 10 months. The Finnish crew members, Andrei Maksimenko and Vusal Majidov, were found to have deliberately dragged their anchor along the seabed for about 130 kilometers, causing damage to critical cables connecting Finland and Estonia. The court also ordered both men to cover the repair costs. This incident is part of a series of undersea cable damage incidents in the Baltic Sea in recent years, with authorities pointing fingers at Russia. Western officials warn that Russia may be attempting to test new technology designed to disable undersea communications cables.",
  "summary": "A Helsinki court sentenced two crew members of the Fitburg, a ship that damaged cables in the Gulf of Finland, to prison, Yle and Reuters reported.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}