COPENHAGEN, Sept. 27, 2022 (Xinhua) Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said here on Tuesday that her country’s government regards the Nord Stream gas pipeline leak as “deliberate actions”.
“The clear assessment by the authorities is that these are premeditated actions. This was not an accident,” Frederiksen told reporters.
Danish and Swedish officials said on Monday that leaks had been identified in the Nord Stream 1 and its twin Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm, near the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden.
Frederiksen said two “explosions” had been recorded, but she refused to speculate who was responsible.
“The gas lines are located at a depth of 70 to 90 meters and consist of layers of steel and concrete more than 12 centimeters thick, respectively,” said Dan Jorgensen, Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities. “The nature of the leaks indicates that there are large holes that cannot happen by chance.
He said the leaks were not expected to cause short-term supply security problems.
Quoting the Danish foreign intelligence service, Defense Minister Morten Podskov said he did not see any increased military threat once morest Denmark following the leak.
“I would like to stress that the Defense Intelligence Service does not recognize the presence of an increased military threat to Denmark,” the defense minister said.
Podskov is scheduled to hold a meeting on Nord Stream pipelines with Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Wednesday morning.
