Putin offers additional gas supply to Europe via surviving branches of pipelines
This handout picture released on Sept 27, 2022 by the Danish Defence Command shows the gas leak at the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as it is seen from the Danish Defence's F-16 rejection response off the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm, south of Dueodde. (HANDOUT / DANISH DEFENCE COMMAND/ AFP)
Germany, Sweden and Denmark are still investigating the origins of what appeared to be a deliberate sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines built to deliver Russian natural gas to Europe, which resulted in explosions and leaking of hazardous gas.
A spokesperson for Germany’s attorney general’s office said an official federal investigation will attempt to establish whether the Nord Stream pipelines were deliberately ruptured, and, if so, by whom.
“Yes, we have initiated an investigation,” Reuters news agency quoted the spokesperson as saying.
German investigators are working closely with law enforcement agencies in Denmark and Sweden, which are also probing the suspected explosions that triggered at least four leaks in both the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that connect Russia with continental Europe via the floor of the Baltic Sea.
The pipelines have been hemorrhaging gas since September and shipping has been routed away from the areas concerned as a precaution.
Der Spiegel newspaper said Germany’s Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has begun preliminary proceedings against “unknown persons” in connection with the leaks.
It said investigators are already on the scene and have collected evidence with an undersea remotely operated vehicle. Investigators are said to believe they already have enough evidence to prove two of the leaks were triggered deliberately.
Their findings back up claims by investigators from Denmark and Sweden, who have said the leaks were caused by “several hundred kilograms of explosives”.
One of the two branches of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has survived the recent leak incident, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the Russian Energy Week in Moscow on Oct 12.
“Its capacity is 27.5 billion cubic meters per year, which is about 8 percent of all gas imports of Europe. Russia is ready to start such deliveries. The ball is on the side of the European Union,” he said.
Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has said Moscow is also investigating the leaks.
The loss of the pipelines has added to fuel shortages and hefty price rises in Europe, but some politicians are trying to direct the blame to Russia.
Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, told Xinhua recently, “The evidence is of course incomplete at this stage, but the attempt of the United States to blame Russia is very unconvincing to say the least.”
“We need an honest investigation,” said Sachs, now president of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Russia and European countries seem to be the biggest victims, he added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier called the potential attacks “a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy.”
