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Sudden leaks in gas pipelines running from Russia
to Germany raise suspicions of sabotage.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/27/world/russia-ukraine-war-news
Suspicious
leaks in two gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea
caused a sudden drop in pressure on Monday, raising concerns about possible
sabotage and prompting the authorities in Germany, Denmark and Sweden to
investigate.
Sweden’s
national seismic network said it detected two large undersea explosions on
Monday near the locations of the leaks. Neither of the pipelines — Nord Stream
1 and 2 — had been active, but they were
filled with gas when there was a sharp drop in pressure, first registered on
Monday.
Footage
released by the Danish Defense Command showed a swirling mass of methane
bubbling up onto the surface of the Baltic Sea. Officials in Denmark raised its
security alerts at electricity and gas facilities around the country.
Speculation
immediately fell on Russia, which denied responsibility. The leaks underscored
the vulnerability of Europe’s energy infrastructure, even as the continent
tries to wean itself off supplies from Russia as punishment for Moscow’s
invasion of Ukraine.
Mateusz
Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, blamed Russia for the leaks, saying they
were an attempt to further destabilize Europe’s energy security. He spoke at
the launch of a new undersea pipeline that connects Poland to Norway through
Denmark.
“We do not
know the details of what happened yet, but we can clearly see that it is an act
of sabotage,” Mr. Morawiecki said. “An act that probably marks the next stage
in the escalation of this situation in Ukraine.”
Denmark’s
prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said that sabotage could not be ruled out. “It
is too early to conclude yet, but it is an extraordinary situation,” she said
during a visit to Poland to inaugurate the pipeline from Norway.
“There is
talk of three leaks, and therefore it is difficult to imagine that it could be
accidental,” she said.
Mykhailo
Podolyak, a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, said on
Twitter that the leaks were “a terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of
aggression towards E.U.”
Speaking at
a news conference in Washington, Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken said
Tuesday, “There are initial reports indicating that this may be the result of
an attack or some kind of sabotage, but these are initial reports and we
haven’t confirmed that yet.”
“My
understanding is the leaks will not have a significant impact on Europe’s
energy resilience,” he added.
The
Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said of the leaks that “no possibility
can be ruled out,” but the Russian state media sought to blame the United
States and Ukraine. The state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported that
Washington “is an active opponent of Russian gas supplies to Europe,” and said
that Ukraine opposed Nord Stream 2 because it “was afraid of losing revenues
from the transit of Russian gas.”
It was not
immediately clear who would benefit from ruptures in the pipelines, which were
not in operation.
The
pipelines have been a focal point of the broader confrontation between Russia
and Europe. After the European Union imposed economic sanctions on Russia to
penalize it for invading Ukraine in February, Russia began withholding the
natural gas that for decades it had sent to Europe, threatening the continent’s
energy supply as winter looms.
The
governments in Denmark and Germany both said the leaks would not affect natural
gas supplies in their countries. Gazprom had already halted nearly all
deliveries of natural gas to Europe, through Nord Stream 1 as well as all but
one of several overland pipelines, and European countries have turned to other
suppliers, including Norway, to meet their energy needs.
Monika
Pronczuk, Oleg Matsnev, Torben Brooks and Richard Pérez-Peña contributed
reporting.
— Melissa Eddy and Victoria Kim
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