Timeline of Baltic Sea sabotage investigation, immigration, politics, and new Finnish words

Hello Insiders!

Did you make it into 2025 unscathed? I don’t know about you but 2024 was a lot to cope with at times especially in the world of news, so I’m hoping the new year brings something different to the headlines. Can I promise this? No. But I can keep my fingers crossed!

I’m starting this week with all the latest twists and turns in the Baltic Sea cable sabotage saga, which involves a Russian ghost ship, court cases and travel bans. It’s like a Netflix thriller.

And also this week I’ve got the latest on a deadly car crash, Finnish forces leaving Iraq, a whining MP, some analysis on the president’s New Year speech, a political defection, the climate crisis, and 5,000 new Finnish words: do you know the difference between millennium socks, an electronic dog and a fart walk?

All that still to come, but first this:

Latest: Ghost ship sabotage timeline

⚓️ Every day since Christmas there’s been updates and intrigue about the case of the 🇨🇰 Cook Islands-registered oil tanker Eagle S, which is suspected of having sabotaged the Estlink 2 power line and telecoms cables between Finland and Estonia on Christmas day as part of 🇷🇺 Russia’s so-called ‘ghost fleet’.

Here’s a timeline with the latest info, and links to more detail:

Monday 30 December: Finnish investigators say they have found a seabed trail stretching almost 100km (about 60 miles) around the site of the Estlink 2 power line and telecoms cables.

Monday 30 December: The owner of the Eagle S, United Arab Emirates-based Caravella LLC FZ, filed a request with the Helsinki District Court to cancel the seizure of the ship. 

Tuesday 31 December: A lawyer representing the owners of the Eagle S says Finnish authorities have not explained why the ship was seized. Herman Ljungberg also claimed the crew was questioned without legal help and was not allowed enough sleep. He called the action a “hijacking” of the ship.

Finnish police denied the allegations. They said the ship was seized according to Finnish law, and the crew was informed of their rights, including legal support. They also said the crew was not deprived of sleep.

Thursday 2 January: Finland's national power grid operator Fingrid said on Thursday it had asked a Helsinki court to seize the Eagle S oil tanker in a bid to secure the company's claim for damages related to the breakdown of the undersea Estlink 2 electricity interconnector.

Thursday 2 January: The Finnish Border Guard’s Director of Maritime Safety said there were four near misses in the Gulf of Finland last autumn, when Russia jammed GPS signals for ships. Luckily, Finnish authorities were able to prevent any accidents, Mikko Hirvi tells HS.

Thursday 2 January: The National Bureau of Investigation says eight members of the Eagle S tanker's crew are now suspects and have been banned from leaving the ship. The vessel is currently detained near Porvoo.

Friday 3 January: The vice chair of parliament’s Defence Committee conceded that Finland had been “naive” about the visibility of some of its critical infrastructure.

Friday 3 January: A Finnish court denied a request for the release of the oil tanker. “This district court has rejected the claim of the defendant, which means that this seizure remains in force," Helsinki District Court Judge Tatu Koistinen said.

Friday 3 January: An inspection of the Eagle S at the Port of Tema in Ghana in 2023 revealed 24 discrepancies, including critical issues with maintenance, equipment, fire alarm system, and emergency power supply.

Friday 3 January: Sweden announced it would support Finland’s investigation of the Baltic Sea cable sabotage by sending the ship HMS Belos to assist. Belos is a submarine rescue vessel. “It goes without saying that the Swedish Defence Forces will offer their unique expertise to help Finland find out what happened," said Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson.

Inside the headlines

🚔 Accident. Four young people were killed in the early hours of Saturday morning after a car skidded off the road near Nurmijärvi and went into the river. Police say the victims were aged 17 to 19.

🏟 Helsinki Arena. Helsinki’s main sports and entertainment arena - still known to many local residents as Hartwall Arena - is expected to reopen in the spring after getting caught in a Russian sanctions drama that left it disused, without power and starting to smell. The Arena has hosted pop concerts, the Ice Hockey World Championships and even the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2007!

💰 Economy. Almost half of Finns believe the country’s pension system will collapse in the future, making it impossible to pay pensions. That’s according to new research carried out by the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA. Despite the gloomy outlook, Finns still remain oddly reluctant to actually reform the pension system.

📈 Climate crisis. This post from meteorologist Mika Rantanen is, sadly, self-explanatory:

🛃 Asylum. New changes to Finland’s asylum process came into force on 2 January. Residence permits for refugees based on an asylum application will now initially be granted for three years, instead of the previous four years. It’s a move being celebrated by the Finns Party, who have long complained that Finland’s asylum process is too generous.

🐶 Dogs. Luna, Kerttu and Sulo are the most popular dog names for dogs born in 2024, according to the Finnish Kennel Club.

🏠 Mökki life. Another new legislation change from the start of the year makes it easier to build a sauna or gazebo, or a single-family mökki (cottage) on the shores of a lake or on the seashore. Previously, planning permission was needed in most cases, but the government has reformed this.

"Many Finns' dream of a sauna on their cottage beach can come true thanks to the legislative change made by the Orpo government. It is unreasonable that the construction of a new, small sauna on the beach has been prohibited in municipalities for a long time,” says Heikki Vestman (NCP) in a statement.

🤖 Robots. Grocery delivery robots - now a fairly common sight in Finnish cities - have now racked up one million kilometres in Finland. The delivery robots, invented by Starship Technologies in Estonia, began operating in Finland in 2022 and have made over 350,000 deliveries to customers to date.

🌐 Immigration. Study after study has come to this same conclusion, but for anyone still not getting the message guess what, immigration is a good thing! But don’t take my word for it, a new report from ETLA Economic Research finds that the growth of Finland’s immigrant workforce improves process and product innovations and increases the number of patent applications in Finnish industry.

The study also finds that immigration did not have a negative impact on the employment of Finnish workers. However, ETLA says that in order to boost economic growth, Finland needs to increase its attractiveness to foreign workers.

🗣 Language. If, like me, you’re locked in an eternal battle with the Finnish language, you might be dismayed to find that The Institute for the Languages of Finland Kotus just added 5,000 new words to the Finnish lexicon.

Some of the fun ones include: Elektroniikkakoira which is a police dog trained to sniff out electronic devices; Hakurei, a mini Japanese turnip that started being sold in Finnish supermarkets during 2024; Millenniaalisukat which are previously fashionable ankle-length socks that young people now consider embarrassing; Pierukävely which translates as fart walk, when you pass gas while walking to aid digestion; and Torjantai which is a portmanteau of torstai (Thursday) and perjantai (Friday) and means the Thursday you take off work before the Friday of a long weekend (the perfect companion, I think, to Sumati which is a portmanteau of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday in Finnish!)

Yes, Taylor Swift fans, Swiftie makes the list of official new Finnish words; but don’t even ask about skibidi toilet because if you don’t already know, you’re too old to use it in a sentence without thoroughly embarrassing yourself!

Insider politics

🇫🇮 Speech. President Alexander Stubb gave his first New Year’s speech on 1 January (you can read the full text, or watch the speech in English here). There was a strong “keep calm and carry on” vibe to the speech (he actually says “carry on” at one point!), which acknowledged the many overwhelming and even scary issues happening in our world today, with Stubb telling Finns: “Let us focus on the good instead of the bad. Let us focus on matters we can influence.”

He went over familiar ground for Finnish leaders on the need for a common rules-based international order; he praised the country’s security forces; and underscored Finland’s strong ongoing support for Ukraine.

Stubb also highlighted some of the problems Finland is facing, saying he is less concerned with external security than he is with the economy.

He also touched on “internal polarisation of our nation” and said “a divided nation cannot defend itself or grow.”

Feedback. Helsinki University political scientist Johanna Vuorelma, who is often quoted in the media, said Stubb’s speech “didn’t impress.” In an interview with MTV Uutiset, Vuorelma said the speech was full of safe choices and offered no “provocative perspectives.” “

“It was largely a repetition of what we are used to hearing in New Year’s speeches,” she said, highlighting two particular contradictions Stubb made in respect to the rules-based international order, and the strength of the nation. Read more here.

Sámi angle. The President of the Sámi Parliament Pirita Näkkäläjärvi took a look at President Stubb’s speech through an Indigenous lens. Writing on social media, Näkkäläjärvi highlihted Stubb’s words on ruled-based societies and the environment to say “let’s make sure that the Indigenous rights and human rights foundation of the draft Sámi Parliament Act are held to in parliamentary proceedings, and will not be allowed to weaken.”

Context. The previous red-green government led by Sanna Marin failed to pass the long-awaited Sámi Parliament Act at the end of its term in 2023, despite promises from Marin to the contrary. The Act has been languishing for several years now after a thorough drafting and consultation process, and votes in the Sámi Parliament in Inari.

Defection. A senior figure with the Christian Democrats has defected to the Finns Party. Asmo Maanselkä was the Party Secretary for a decade until 2021 and has just accepted a job as a special adviser to Rikka Purra (Finns).

Complaints. Kokoomus MP Tere Sammallahti has complained that when right-wing MPs like Vilhelm Junnila (or himself) get embroiled in a scandal it quickly gets picked up by foreign media and the uproar lasts for weeks (sic). But when left-wing politicians are hit by scandals like “being Russian agents” there is little or no international media interest. Sammallahti wonders why this might be?

Anti-racism. More than 60 Finnish organisations have signed up to participate in the government’s anti-racism campaign. The initiative was announced as a response to allegations of racism which rocked Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s government when it came to power in summer 2023 (see above). The latest information reveals that President Stubb’s office has not signed up to the initiative, and neither have the far-right Finns Party, several of whose MPs have been caught out writing or saying racist things, or been convicted in court of racism-related offenses.

Finland international

🇫🇮 OSCE. Finland formally took over the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE on 1 January. Over the next year the Finns plan to use the role to uphold OSCE principles around human rights, democracy and the rule of law - but also to support Ukraine and boost the OSCE’s resilience around complex security challenges.

"Today, we face an unprecedented need to defend this collectively agreed security order. As the Helsinki Final Act marks its 50th anniversary, Finland will consistently stress the principles outlined in this founding document of the OSCE,” said Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen (NCP) in a statement.

“When Russia challenges the foundations of our shared security, the rest of us must stand up for them, and stand tall."

➡️ I’ll have more in next Saturday’s Finland Insider newsletter about what the OSCE does in practice, and how Finland can help shape its actions over the next year.

Nordics. Finland also took over the rotating chairmanship of the Nordic defense cooperation organisation Nordefco at the beginning of the year. Defense cooperation between the Nordic countries has deepened significantly in recent years, in particular after Finland and Sweden joined NATO, like the other Nordic countries.

The main focus of the Finnish presidency is on implementing the new vision for defence cooperation. The vision focuses on interoperability, and in addition, cooperation in the field of defence materiel will be developed, according to Helsingin Sanomat.

🇺🇦 Ukraine. The death of another Finn fighting in Ukraine has been announced. Aleksi Lysander volunteered shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and was killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine at the end of 2024.

🇮🇶 Iraq. The end of 2024 saw the last of the Finnish forces leaving Iraq. A contingent of some 70 military personnel were stationed there as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, alongside troops from a number of countries including the UK, Netherlands and Jordan. The mission was established back in 2014, with the objective of stopping ISIS from advancing and eliminate its combat capability. In addition, Operation Inherent Resolve was supposed to stablise the region, provide humanitarian assistance, and support local security forces.

🇬🇪 Georgia. Finland joined a statement with other Nordic and Baltic countries (known as the NB8: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden) to say they are “seriously concerned about the situation in Georgia”.

“We have called for a thorough and impartial investigation into the irregularities reported ahead of and during the parliamentary elections on 26 October.

“We have condemned violence and intimidation against peaceful protesters, politicians and media representatives; and we deplore the threats directed towards President Zourabishvili.”

Zourabishvili had refused to step down from office, even after her successor was sworn in at the end of 2024.

🛂 Passports. The cost of applying for a Finnish passport is going up at the start of the year by €9. The Interior Ministry says the price of the passports and ID cards must reflect the cost to actually produce them.

And finally…

⛷ I’m obsessed with these urban ski stunts from the folks at realiskifi in Jyäskylä at the moment. Maybe it’s because I’m a terrible skier, knowing I will never pull off any jumps like these guys manage to do on a regular basis. Take a look at some of their adventures:

Thank you, kiitos, tack!

And that’s the end of the first newsletter of 2025. Thanks for reading this far. I’ve got a few new things in the pipeline for the Finland Insider community at the beginning of 2025 so watch this space. In the meantime if you have any story ideas, tips, scoops or thoughts on the newsletter please get in touch directly on my email, [email protected]

See you next Saturday!

David