Suspicions of possible sabotage hover over the three leaks detected in the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, which generated demonstrations in the Kremlin and made Denmark declare an emergency in the electricity and gas sectors.
“It is not possible to rule out any version”, said Russian presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov at a daily press conference, when asked about a possible criminal act.
The Kremlin said it was “very alarmed” by the damage suffered by three gas pipelines, the dates of which are still unknown, according to the government official, who insisted that “until we have the results of the investigation, we cannot rule out anything.”
A spokesperson for the Swedish National Police said on Tuesday (27) that a preliminary report found the leaks to be the result of “gross sabotage”.
The Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, also made statements in this regard. “Today we face an act of sabotage, we do not know all the details of what happened, but we clearly see that it is an act of sabotage related to the next step in the escalation of the situation in Ukraine,” he said.
Seismologists Swedes reported on Tuesday that they detected two underwater explosions in the area of the gas pipelines on Monday (26).
Information from security sources in Germany maintain that there is much evidence that the two pipelines were deliberately damaged in an act of sabotage, as reported by the German newspaper Tagesspiegel.
“Our imagination cannot conceive of a scenario that is not a targeted attack ”, pointed out to the press vehicle a source close to the German government, who admitted that “everything points to not having been a coincidence”.
According to Tagesspiegel, two possibilities are being worked on about the authorship. of the attacks against the gas pipelines.
The first version is that it would be that of Ukrainian forces or groups linked to Ukraine or a “false flag” operation carried out by Russia, to generate more uncertainty and, probably, raise the price of gas again.
The operator of the two pipelines, Nord Stream AG, which is based in Switzerland, said on Tuesday that the damage suffered by three pipelines of the two infrastructures is unprecedented and that it is impossible to predict when the repair and restoration work will be completed.
On Sunday night, a leak was detected in one of the two branches of Nord Stream 2, which never came into operation, due to the blockade of infrastructure decreed by the German government, even before the war in Ukraine. However, the gas infrastructure has been filled and should remain so because of the pressure.
Nord Stream 1, with a capacity of 55 million cubic meters of gas per year and in which two other leaks were detected, is paralyzed, after an allegation by Russia of an oil leak in the only compressor station in the country that was working.
Alert in Denmark and Sweden
The spill was registered in the exclusive economic area of Denmark, southeast of the island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea.
For this reason, the Directorate General of Nordic country energy has declared a state of emergency in the electricity and gas sectors.
“Pipe ruptures rarely occur, so we see reason to raise the emergency level as a result of the events of the last day. We want to ensure a thorough monitoring of critical infrastructure to reinforce security of supply”, pointed out a statement from the Danish body.
The announcement assumes the elevation to the orange level, the second highest on a scale of five, which results in “concrete measures” that companies in the gas and electricity sectors must adopt “to increase the safety of, for example, factories, buildings and other facilities.”
The Danish authorities initially reported a leak in Nord Stream 2, in local waters in the Baltic Sea, and later of two others in Nord Stream 1, in waters off Denmark and also neighboring Sweden, near the island of Bornholm.
The Danish Navy has also decreed a ban on navigation within a radius of five miles around the areas of the leaks and, on flights, within an area of one kilometer.
