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The Nord Stream pipeline network, part of which supplies Germany with gas from Russia, has been damaged in three places, its operator has said.
The damage to the system on the bed of the Baltic Sea – all caused in one day – was “unprecedented”, Nord Stream AG added.
The Kremlin said it could not rule out sabotage as a cause of the damage, while other authorities are investigating.
The Danish energy authority also said it could be a deliberate act, as any event like this was “extremely rare”.
And a European security source told Reuters: “There are some indications that it is deliberate damage. You have to ask: Who would profit?”
Meanwhile, a reading from a nearby seismograph, which records vibrations on the planet’s surface, was later found to show spikes at similar times to when the losses in pressure in the pipes were first recorded, according to a German geology research centre.
Read more:
How Nord Stream 2 has been controversial from the start
‘No doubt these were explosions’
Sweden’s national seismology centre said its measurement stations recorded “powerful subsea blasts” in the area where the gas leaks occurred.
Seismologist Bjorn Lund told public broadcaster SVT: “There is no doubt that these were explosions.”
Earlier, Sweden’s Maritime Authority had issued a warning about two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which until the Ukraine war provided about 60% of Germany’s gas needs.
On Monday, Denmark issued a warning about a leak in the yet-to-be-opened Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which had been built to boost the amount of Russian gas supplied to Germany.
The leak from Nord Stream 2, southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, prompted the setting up of a five nautical mile exclusion zone, to protect shipping from any danger.
The Danes have now marked off the leak from Nord Stream 1, which is also…
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Source : skynews
