The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office opened a case of international terrorism. Moscow justified the step by saying that the damage to the pipelines had “inflicted considerable economic damage on Russia”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called for Russia to be involved in clarifying the incidents. The UN session is expected for Thursday, said the deputy head of the Russian UN mission in New York, Dmitri Polyanski, on his Telegram channel on Wednesday. The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, also stated that Russia wanted to request a Security Council meeting in connection with the “provocations” surrounding the Baltic Sea pipelines.
According to a Russian media report, a US helicopter might be involved in the leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. “The MH-60R Strike Hawk multi-role helicopter circled for nine hours on Monday, September 26 over the Baltic Sea, regarding 250 kilometers from the Danish island of Bornholm, where the gas leak was detected,” wrote the internet newspaper lenta.ru on Wednesday citing data from Flightradar.
Among other things, the attack helicopter can also fight underwater targets, emphasized the medium, which is considered to be close to the Kremlin. The helicopter had been in the said location from 7:30 p.m. Moscow time on Sunday September 25 to 4:30 a.m. Moscow time.
Meanwhile, in the West, there was growing conviction that the leaks at the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were the result of an act of sabotage. Everything points to an intentional act, said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Wednesday on behalf of the 27 member states. At the same time, the EU threatened those responsible with sanctions. NATO also spoke of sabotage. However, Western politicians held back from assigning blame. Russia denied any responsibility.
On Monday night, a sharp drop in pressure was initially detected in one of the two tubes of the unused Nord Stream 2 pipeline. Later, the Nord Stream 1 operator reported a drop in pressure in these two tubes as well. Danish authorities finally discovered a total of three leaks in the two pipelines.
EU chief diplomat Borrell stressed that they were very concerned regarding the damage. “These incidents are no coincidence and concern us all,” said the Spaniard. “All available information indicates that these leaks are the result of a deliberate act.” Any investigation intended to provide clarity will be supported. At the same time, he made it clear that any intentional disruption of the European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and “will be answered with a robust and joint response”. EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen made a similar statement.
NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg wrote on Twitter that a conversation with Danish Defense Minister Morten Bødskov had been regarding “the sabotage” of the pipelines. They also talked regarding protecting critical infrastructure in NATO countries. Borrell also said steps would be taken to make energy security more robust. Bødskov himself emphasized that it was not regarding his country’s critical infrastructure.
Ukraine had already blamed Russia for the leaks on Tuesday. This should exacerbate the energy crisis in Europe and trigger panic before winter.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected any blame on Wednesday. “It’s quite predictably and predictably stupid and absurd to make such assumptions,” he said, according to the Interfax agency. The damage is also a big problem for Russia. Both strands of Nord Stream 2 are filled with gas. “This gas costs a lot of money, and now it’s escaping into the air.”
Before any statements are made, inspections of the leaks must be awaited to determine whether or not there was an explosion, Peskow said. He also called for Russia to be involved in investigating the incidents. Peskow himself had not ruled out sabotage on Tuesday.
The US government, for its part, dismissed as “ridiculous” suggestions by Russia that it might be behind the Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks. “We all know that Russia has a long history of spreading misinformation, and it’s doing it once more here,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Wednesday. Earlier, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry had suggested that US President Joe Biden might have ordered the sabotage of the pipelines.
However, an investigation into the leaks might be a long time coming. With so much gas in the pipelines, it might take a week or two for the area to calm down enough to investigate the leaks around 80 meters below the surface, Danish Minister Bødskov said in Brussels.
According to the Danish Energy Authority, more than half of the gas has already escaped from the affected lines. The lines should therefore probably be empty on Sunday, as the head of the authorities, Kristoffer Böttzauw, said at a press conference on Wednesday. According to calculations by the authority, the climate impact of the gas leak corresponds to around one third of Denmark’s total climate impact in one year. A concrete health risk for the population – especially on the Baltic Sea island of Bornholm – does not exist, it said.
The operator of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline did not rule out repairing the damaged double strand. There is experience and providers for such work, said a spokesman for Nord Stream AG. Before a course of action can be determined, however, the damage must be assessed. So far there are no pictures of the actual leaks. They want to inspect the damage as soon as possible, but that assumes that the authorities have lifted the restricted zones that have been imposed.
According to Nord Stream 2 AG, the exact damage to its largely parallel pipeline is still unknown. “No one can seriously say at the moment what it looks like down there” and what technical possibilities there are now, said a spokesman.
According to Bødskov, the leaks are in international waters in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. Both countries had set up safety zones for shipping following the discovery. Ships are not allowed to pass through the area around the leaks in a radius of five nautical miles (almost 9.3 kilometers).
According to Greenpeace, the gas in the leaking pipelines might have the same climate-destroying potential as 30 million tons of carbon dioxide. That corresponds to the annual emissions of 20 million cars in the EU, the environmental organization tweeted.
