EU calls Nord Stream gas leaks sabotage
Consequences of the Nord Stream-2 gas leak captured from the air (Photo:Danish Defence Command/Forsvaret Ritzau Scanpix/Reuters)
Incidents involving leaks from the Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines are not accidental, the EU's high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, stated in a press release on Sept. 28.
“Safety and environmental concerns are of utmost priority,” the statement said.
“These incidents are not a coincidence and affect us all. All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act.”
Borrell added that the EU would support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on what happened and why.
“We will support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on what happened and why, and will take further steps to increase our resilience in energy security,” said Borrell.
“Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.”
The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, echoed Borrell’s statements.
“Now it is necessary to investigate the incidents, to get full clarity about the events and causes,” she wrote on Twitter.
On Sept. 26, the pressure suddenly dropped in the Russian gas pipeline Nord Stream-2, followed by similar reports the next day on Nord Stream-1. Both gas pipelines, passing along the bottom of the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden and Denmark, weren’t operating at that time, but were filled with technical gas.
The company Nord Stream AG said that it isn’t yet possible to estimate the timeframe for restoring the efficiency of the gas transmission infrastructure.
Bjorn Lund, professor at the Swedish National Seismic Center, stated that two underwater explosions had occurred along the pipeline routes.
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