Finnish police said on Sunday they had found tracks that drag on for dozens of kilometres along the bottom of the Baltic Sea where a tanker carrying Russian oil is suspected of breaking a power line and four telecoms cables with its anchor.

Police and media reports say that Finnish authorities have detained a Russia-linked ship as they investigate whether it damaged a Baltic Sea power cable and several data cables.

Finland has seized the Eagle S, a Cook Islands-flagged oil tanker, as part of an investigation into severe damage to underwater cables in the Baltic Sea.

Finnish police have discovered traces on the bottom of the Baltic Sea stretching for dozens of kilometers. It is believed that a tanker, which was carrying Russian oil, severed a power line and four telecommunications cables with its anchor,

General Mark Rutte says the military alliance will step up patrols in the Baltic Sea area as Finnish investigators work to establish whether a ship linked to Russia sabotaged undersea cables there this week.