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Denmark, Germany and Sweden are investigating sites of ruptured pipelines, but remain silent about who may have caused the damage and why.
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By Melissa Eddy
Berlin Report
After a Monday last September, Swedish seismographs suddenly detected a violent disturbance that shook the back of the Baltic Sea south of the rocky island of Bornholm, a former Viking outpost that is part of Denmark.
A few hours later, at 7 p. m. , it happened again: a series of additional underwater explosions off the northeast coast of the island.
The next morning, it showed huge methane blooms bubbling up on the ocean surface above the two explosion sites, confirming reports of a severe voltage loss at Nord Stream 1 and 2, the grass-based fuel pipelines connecting Russia and Germany.
Now, a month after underwater explosions dug holes in Nord Stream’s pipelines in busy foreign waters, the leak has stopped, the first underwater photographs of the twisted steel and cut openings were published, and 3 countries have ongoing investigations.
But beyond acknowledging that explosives were used in planned acts of sabotage, the researchers revealed some main points about their findings. The Russian economic artery or perhaps Ukrainians seeking revenge on Russia?What is known remains as murky as photographs of the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
Denmark, Germany and Sweden have launched separate investigations into the leaks: in Denmark and Sweden, the explosions occurred in waters that were in their so-called exclusive economic zones, and Germany is where the pipelines end.
In a letter to the UN Security Council on September 29, 3 days after the incidents, Denmark and Sweden said they believed “several hundred kilograms” of explosives had been used to damage the pipes, of which more than 3 and a half feet in diameter and are made of metal embedded in heavy concrete.
The 3 countries refuse to reveal more information. Acute geopolitical tensions surrounding the blasts, which come amid a fierce economic war between Moscow and the West in Ukraine, have heightened caution.
“There’s still a lot of secrecy,” said Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen, a Danish Navy commander and army analyst at Copenhagen University’s Center for Military Studies. “The explanation is simply because they have to be sure. When they have results, they will have to be based on proven facts and not just speculation.
Cmdr. Kristoffersen said he believes it’s unlikely any of the investigators will make an announcement “until they have that irrefutable evidence. “
Interim or uncoordinated findings, he added, “could lead to reactions that would be useful at this stage. “
The German government under pressure that the complexity of forensic examination of injured sites “will hardly allow reliable short-term statements to be made about paternity” or about the culprit of the attacks.
The pipelines belong to Gazprom, Russia’s state monopoly on herbal fuel. (Minority stakes in Nord Stream 1 are held through 4 other power companies: Wintershall Dea and E. On, either in Germany, Gasunie in the Netherlands and Engie in France. )
Russian officials complained that they had been prevented from investigating the blast sites. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov accused the Europeans of conducting the investigation “in secret,” without Moscow’s involvement. “Based on the statements we heard from Germany, France and Denmark, this investigation intrinsically created to blame Russia,” he said. Peskov was quoted as saying by Reuters.
The 760-mile-long dual pipelines, stretching from Russia’s northwest coast to Lubmin in northeastern Germany, have been amid foreign tensions. The original Nord Stream, completed in 2011 at a cost of more than $12 billion, has been criticized. as a convenient way for Gazprom to send fuel to Germany while avoiding paying transit fees in Ukraine.
Years later, the concept of Nord Stream 2, a sister pipeline that would double the capacity of the original, was condemned by many Central and Eastern European countries, as well as by the United States, which warned that it would allow Moscow to depend on Germany. in Russian fuel. Although the $11 billion pipeline was completed last year, the German government suspended it just before Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Although the new pipeline was never used and the first has not delivered fuel since July due to what Gazprom calls technical problems, it was also not filled with highly pressurized methane to help the pipes cope with the stress of water on the sea floor. The two Nord streams are composed of two branches of pipes along the seabed. The explosions caused leaks along any of the Nord Stream 1 branches, but only on a branch of Nord Stream 2. The other branch remains intact.
Last week’s murky images through Swedish tabloid Expressen highlighted the force of the explosion that hit Nord Stream 1, and appeared to show that several pipe segments were cut from the main pipe.
Trond Larsen, a submersible drone whose photographs were commissioned by the Swedish newspaper, noted that when the pipes burst, high-pressure fuel, up to about 3,200 pounds per square inch, disrupted the seafloor and appeared to bury parts. of the broken pipe.
“We saw that the westbound component of the pipe is still buried in the seabed, the end of the pipe going east was lifted from the seafloor,” M said. Larsen during a telephone interview. He said there was very little debris in the area, most likely because the push of the fuel had scared them all away, or because Swedish investigators had already removed it.
Last week, German investigators also sent a shipment provided with underwater drones and a diving robot to comb the seabed in the same domain in search of more evidence of the explosion.
The Danish government has still lifted restrictions in its economic waters on the site of the explosion, which have been closed to maritime traffic as a protective measure.
The explosions took place in a busy maritime corridor, frequented by fishing boats, merchant ships and army vessels from countries bordering the Baltic Sea as NATO partners, in addition to the United States.
Since the blasts, patrols have increased in the Baltic and North Sea, home to an extensive network of cables and pipelines linking Norway, Europe’s biggest energy exporter since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Britain and continental Europe. Baltic Pipe, which transports Norwegian fuel to Poland, crossing the arteries of Nord Stream on the seabed, not from the explosion sites.
This month, Putin told an energy convention in Russia that delivering herbal fuel to Europe through the remaining strand of Nord Stream 2 would be a matter of “just turning on the tap. “Germans to approve the pipeline.
A few days later, Gazprom Chairman Alexei Miller, in comments to Russia’s Channel One television channel, raised the concept that it would be faster to rebuild the pipeline than to repair it. At the same time, he stated that such a resolution would require Germany’s interest. , as well as the solution of regulatory, legal and sanctioning issues.
After years of ignoring protests from its Central and Eastern European neighbors, some of which border Russia and have a long history of relations with Moscow, German leaders identified the mistake of letting their country’s tough economy become too dependent on Russian gas.
Instead, investments are now aimed at securing and connecting floating terminals for shipments of liquefied herbal fuel from the U. S. Fuel through Nord Stream to carry LNG.
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