Controversial and out of service due to the war in Ukraine, the Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia to Germany have both been suddenly hit by unexplained leaks in the Baltic Sea, Danish and Swedish authorities announced on Tuesday, raising suspicions of sabotage. Lhe Swedish seismic institute also announced that two underwater explosions had been recorded before the Nord Stream leaks. kyiv evokes “a planned terrorist attackby Russia.
The day after the announcement of a leak in the parallel Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany is in turn affected by two very rare gas leaks in the Baltic Sea, the authorities of the two Nordic countries said on Tuesday.
Copenhagen immediately placed its energy infrastructure on alert, while believing that it was “too earlyto speak out about the causes of these simultaneous incidents.
Objects of geopolitical arm wrestling in recent months, the two pipelines operated by a consortium dependent on the Russian giant Gazprom are not operational because of the consequences of the war in Ukraine. But both were still full of gas.
The Danish authorities confirmed on Tuesday morning “two other leaks in the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, which is also not operational, but which contains gas“, said the Danish Minister for Climate and Energy, Dan Jørgensen.
We cannot imagine a scenario that is not a targeted attack
A spokesperson for the Swedish maritime authority confirmed to AFP the detection of the two new leaks, located as for Nord Stream 2 off the Danish island of Bornholm.
The leaks on Nord Stream 1 take place outside territorial waters but one is in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark, the other in that of Sweden. Concrete measures to increase the safety of factories and installations will have to be put in place by companies in the sector.
According to a source close to the German government, quoted by the German daily Taggesspiegel “everything speaks against a coincidence“. “We cannot imagine a scenario that is not a targeted attack“, underlined this source.