The Sakala, a minehunter, has been patrolling the roughly 80 kilometer-wide gulf since the start of the year and in the aftermath of Christmas Day's incident in which the trailing anchor of a cargo vessel thought to be part of Russia's shadow fleet struck a major electricity cable, putting it out of action.

"Aktuaalne kaamera" reported that over the past week, the number of vessels which have been monitored stretches into the hundreds, with no hostile behavior detected so far.

The Sakala's crew has been in communication with many of these vessels.

Ship's commander Capt. Meelis Kants said: "We sail north from Naissaar to the middle section of the Gulf of Finland, where the shipping lanes are visible."

"Similarly, the Estlink 1 cable can be seen from here. The entire area is divided into different sectors for both the Estonian Navy and for Finnish surface vessels," Capt. Kants went on.

Shipping is monitored from the bridge using a camera.

On Thursday, when the "Aktuaalne kaamera" crew were on board, the weather was clear and with moderate waves; in foggier conditions, other identification methods must be used. The Sakala is also equipped with radar and a drone.

One crew member told "Aktuaalne kaamera": "The ship has enabled AIS — an automatic identification system, which provides details about a vessel. We know what kind of ship it is, under whose flag it sails, where it has come from, and where it is going. But the pressing question is what situation the ship is in. Does it have its anchors attached? Are the anchors deformed, or is it possibly dragging something behind it?"

Kants said that thanks to communication with allied nations, preventive information on potentially suspicious ships in the area is available.

These are: "Those ships which might belong to the shadow fleet and which do not, which ships should be checked out more thoroughly and observed more closely. There is quite a bit of maritime traffic in the area we just monitored," Kants explained.

The Sakala is one of three ex-Royal Navy Sandown-class minehunters which the Estonian Navy acquired from the U.K. back in 2008.

On the other hand, there is no reason to assume that a ship would start dragging an anchor along the seabed right after Finland temporarily detained one ship.

The Eagle S, the ship whose trailing anchor is thought to have caused the damage which put the Estlink 2 cable out of action, remains impounded off Porvoo, Finland, with some of its crew subject to restrictions on their movement.

A Swedish naval vessel early this week located the Eagle S's anchor, which had broken off in the incident, lying on the seabed.

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