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Blasts Recorded Before Gas Leaks Hit Russian Undersea Baltic Gas Pipelines [1]
['Rfe Rl']
Date: 2022-09
Swedish police say they have launched a preliminary investigation into possible sabotage related to leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea after seismologists from Sweden and Denmark said they had recorded powerful explosions in areas near where evidence of leaks had been found.
A national police spokesperson on September 27 said that Swedish police had "established a report and the crime classification is gross sabotage."
Bjorn Lund, a seismologist at Sweden's National Seismology Centre (SNSN), said earlier that there was no doubt that explosions were related to the seismic activity.
His comments came on the heels of news from the German geological research center GFZ that after it had recorded near silence, as usual, until 0003 GMT on September 26, when there was a spike representing a tremor in the Earth followed by a continuous hissing waveform. The pattern repeated itself at 1700 GMT.
Late on September 26, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline depressurized. Hours later, the Nord Stream 1 pipeline suffered a similar fate. Subsequent investigations showed leaks in both near the island of Bornholm.
The leaks have raised concerns about possible sabotage amid fears of a growing energy crisis as Western nations turn away from Russia as a supplier in response to Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States had not yet confirmed initial reports that the leaks could be the result of an attack or sabotage. A National Security Council spokesperson said the United States stands ready to provide support to European partners investigating the leaks.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhaylo Podolyak said the reported gas leaks were likely the result of a "terrorist attack" carried out by Moscow.
"The large-scale 'gas leak' from Nord Stream 1 is nothing more than a terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of aggression towards the EU," Podolyak said on Twitter.
Podolyak accused Russia of seeking to "destabilize the economic situation in Europe and cause pre-winter panic."
Moscow reduced the gas flow to Europe through Nord Stream 1 before suspending it completely in August, claiming that Western sanctions had caused technical difficulties.
The new Nord Stream 2 pipeline was recently completed, but Germany scrapped plans to import gas through it just days before Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
However, both pipelines still contain gas under pressure.
Nord Stream AG, which operates the pipelines, said on September 27 that three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system have sustained what it called "unprecedented" damage in one day, adding that it was impossible to say when the gas network system's working capability would be restored.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 27 that he could not exclude the possibility that sabotage was behind the leaks.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also called the events “an act of sabotage," while Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she could not rule out such a reason for the leaks.
The turmoil came on the same day of the inauguration of a long-awaited pipeline that will bring Norwegian gas to Poland, which used to rely heavily on Russia for supplies.
The new system will bring Norway's gas across Denmark and the Baltic Sea to Poland.
Anders Puck Nielsen, a researcher with the Center for Maritime Operations at the Royal Danish Defense College, was quoted by Reuters as saying the timing of the leaks was “conspicuous,” given the ceremony.
He said it appeared someone may have sought “to send a signal that something could happen to the Norwegian gas.”
“The arrow points in the direction of Russia,” Puck Nielsen said. “No one in the West is interested in having any kind of instability in the energy market.”
With reporting by SVT, Reuters, and TASS
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-gas-baltic-pipelines-leaks/32054130.html
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