Time.news – Attacks, sabotage or provocations? A whirlwind of accusations, suspicions and international controversies have been unleashed around the mystery of the three leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines which have caused significant drops in pressure and a leak in the Baltic Sea.
The Swedish Seismic Observatory revealed “two massive explosions” in the waters near the leaking section of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. This was reported by Swedish national television Stv.
“There is no doubt that these are explosions”Bjorn Lund, professor of seismology and director of the Swedish national seismic network, told the broadcaster, “you can clearly see how the waves are bouncing from the bottom to the surface. There is no doubt that it was a blast.” One of the explosions, adds Stv, had a magnitude of 2.3 and was recorded in as many as 30 measuring stations in southern Sweden.
The first explosion was recorded at 02:03 on Monday night and the second at 19:04 on Monday night and the alarms on gas leaks came from the maritime administration at 13:52 and 20:41 respectively. Monday, after some ships had detected bubbles on the surface. Svt claims to have obtained the coordinates of the explosions, which would be in the same area where the gas leaks were recorded. Lund has ruled out at the moment that the explosions are linked to military exercises, as sometimes happens.
Already on Monday evening the Danish authorities spoke of a “dangerous” gas leak by immediately placing a ban on navigation and overflight in an area south of the Danish island of Bornholm, to the north-east and south-east of which losses were noted.
The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines both cross the Baltic Sea to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, and today both the German and Danish security authorities have launched in-depth investigations: it may be a case, but all this happens while it is the inauguration of a new pipeline is planned to make Poland and other European countries less dependent on Russian gas, the Baltic Pipe.
As a result of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, both due to the imposed “freezing” of Nord Stream 2 and then due to Moscow’s shutdown of the Nord Stream 1 taps, neither of the two pipelines is currently transporting natural gas to Europe : however, both pipelines are full. Incandescent matter, which immediately triggered the mechanism of mutual accusations.
Germany hypothesizes “attacks” on gas pipelines – as sources revealed to the Tagesspiegel newspaper – so much so that the federal government led by Olaf Scholz is believed that these damage to the pipelines “are no coincidence”. In not too dissimilar terms, Danish premier Matte Frederiksen expressed herself: “It is difficult to imagine that these are accidental losses”.
This is followed by the position taken by the Kremlin itself, which in addition to saying that it is “extremely worried”, affirms – through the mouth of the spokesman Dmitry Peskov – that it does not exclude “any option”, including “sabotage”. The reaction coming from Poland is speculating and opposite: “Unfortunately our neighbor to the east constantly pursues an aggressive policy”, attacked the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz in Warsaw, adding that if Russia “is able to implement a aggression against Ukraine, it is clear that provocations concerning Western Europe cannot be excluded ”.
And of “sabotage” he speaks explicitly, but pointing precisely the finger against Moscow, the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki: “We do not know the details, but we clearly see that we are facing an act of sabotage”. Speaking at the presentation of the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline, Morawiecki pressed: “We are probably at a new stage of an escalation, as is also the case in Ukraine”.
In past years the Polish government had expressed its firm opposition to the realization of the Nord Stream 2 project, originally aimed at multiplying the flow of gas from Russia to Europe, and in particular to Germany, with the argument that energy dependence would be used. by the Kremlin as an instrument of political pressure. The same argument, however, has been strongly reiterated over the years by Washington and Paris, which is why there have been quite a few tensions with Berlin on the Nord Stream issue.
Last year the works for the construction of Nord Stream 2 were completed, but Germany has never given the green light to its commissioning, precisely because of the Russian invasion. Meanwhile, the German federal agency that manages the energy grid has put its hands on declaring that there would be no consequences on energy security. Nevertheless, the note adds, “we are trying to shed light” together with the Ministry for the Economy on the leaks in the pipelines, but “at present we do not yet know the causes” of the loss of pressure.
Danish authorities announced on Monday the discovery of a leak in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which has so far not been used to import Russian gas. They were later informed of a sharp drop in pressure on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which until recently was a major source of gas for Germany. Meanwhile, the Nord Stream Ag company reports that “it is not clear when the system is back in operation”, and explains that the two leaks in the first gas pipeline “are very close to each other”, even if they are “one in the economic zone. Swedish and one in the Danish economic zone ”. It is always Frederiksen who takes stock from the political point of view of the affair: the damage to the Baltic gas pipelines “shows that there is a need for greater energy security in Europe”.