Russian President Vladimir Putin classified this Thursday (29) as an “act of international terrorism” the leaks detected in Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines in the waters of the Baltic Sea.
In a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Putin thus defined “the unprecedented sabotage” against Russian gas pipelines, according to the Kremlin in a statement. “In essence, it is an act of international terrorism”, he declared.
In addition, during the conversation “it was highlighted that Russia will take this matter up for urgent debate in the UN Security Council”, in a session to be held on Friday.
Russia opened a criminal case for international terrorism on Wednesday after denouncing that “intentional actions aimed at damaging the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream gas pipelines 2” occurred in the vicinity of the Danish island of Bornholm.
As a result of these actions, the Russian Federation would have suffered considerable economic damage.
Investigations into the spills, which took place in international waters, will be carried out by the investigation department of the Federal Security Service (FSB, ex-KGB).
The Swedish Coast Guard detected this Thursday a second leak in Nord Stream 2, adding up to three registered between Sunday and Monday.
The pipeline operator Nord Stream indicated that everything indicates that “physical damage” has occurred in the energy infrastructure, and guaranteed that it has started to mobilize all necessary means to study the causes of the incident.
The first Nord Stream, with pumping capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year, is paralyzed after Russia alleges an oil leak in the only Russian compression station that was still in operation.
For its part In part, Nord Stream 2 never came into operation due to Berlin’s blockade of infrastructure, even before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February. However, both pipelines are full of gas and therefore must maintain a stable pressure.