The two Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany — out of service due to the war in Ukraine — leaked gas into the Baltic Sea that generated gigantic bubbles this Tuesday fueling suspicions of sabotage.
The three large leaks identified since Monday near the Danish island of Bornholm are visible from the surface and generated bubbles from 200 meters to one a kilometer in diameter, the Danish military announced, in a statement accompanied by impressive images.
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The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was the first to suffer damage on Monday and Tuesday. These also affected the route of Nord Stream 1, which runs almost parallel to the Baltic Sea.
Denmark and Sweden confirmed Tuesday morning that the two gas pipelines are leaking.
The subject of geopolitical tensions in recent months, these two gas pipelines operated by a consortium dependent on the Russian giant Gazprom are not operational due to the war in Ukraine, but they are still full of gas.
Russia said it was “extremely concerned” about the detected leaks and added that it does not rule out “any hypothesis”, including sabotage, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.
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These leaks are located off the Danish island of Bornholm, one in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark and the other in Sweden.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said it was “hard to imagine that it was an accident” and added that sabotage could not be “excluded”.
Nord Stream, the consortium that operates the pipeline, said that for the time being it has not been able to observe or assess the damage, but acknowledged the exceptional nature of the situation. “An incident where three pipelines simultaneously experience difficulties on the same day is not ordinary,” a spokesman told AFP.
State of alert in Denmark
Denmark immediately put all its energy infrastructure on alert and deployed two boats in the area, accompanied by helicopters, and Sweden called an emergency meeting.
“Gas pipeline leaks are extremely rare and therefore we see a reason to increase the level of vigilance following these incidents that we have witnessed in the last 24 hours,” the director of the Danish Energy Agency, Kristoffer, explained in a statement. Böttzauw.
In it he promised “in-depth surveillance of Denmark’s critical infrastructure.”
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Pipeline leaks are extremely rare and so we see a reason to increase the level of vigilance
The Scandinavian country raised the alert in the electricity and gas sector to the orange level, the second highest, and prohibited navigation within a radius of 5 nautical miles (about 9 kilometers) around the leaks and overflight within a radius of one kilometer. .
Concrete measures to strengthen the safety of factories and facilities must be implemented by companies in the sector.
The consortium that operates the gas pipelines had already announced on Monday night a sudden drop in pressure in the Nord Stream 1. On Tuesday morning, both the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, Dan Jørgensen, and the Swedish maritime authorities confirmed two leaks in the duct.
Germany suspects sabotage
Built alongside its predecessor, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline was to double Russia’s import capacity to Germany. But its imminent start-up was suspended due to retaliation against Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine.
The German authorities did not comment on the facts for now. But according to a source close to the government quoted by the German newspaper Taggesspiegel “everything speaks against a coincidence.”
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“We cannot imagine a scenario that is not a targeted attack,” said this source.
Ukraine also said on Tuesday that leaks in gas pipelines
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 carrying Russian gas to Europe were likely caused by a planned “terrorist attack” by Moscow against the European Union.
“The large-scale Nord Stream 1 ‘gas leaks’ are nothing more than a planned terrorist attack by Russia and an act of aggression against the EU,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podoliak said on Twitter.
According to the Danish authorities, the incidents do not affect the country’s energy supply or the safety or health of residents of the nearby islands of Bornholm and Christiansø.
Coinciding with these incidents, the Danish prime minister, together with her Norwegian and Polish counterparts, inaugurated the Baltic Pipe, a gas pipeline that will link Poland and Norway through Denmark.
AFP
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