Fourth explosion detected on Nord Stream pipelines
The fourth leak is detected by the Swedish Coast Guards, with two of the four being in Sweden's exclusive economic zone.
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Two of the leaks are in the Swedish economic zone (EPA)
The Swedish Coast Guard found a fourth gas leak on Tuesday in the damaged Nord Stream pipes, according to Coast Guard spokesman Jenny Larsson.
Larsson told Svenska Dagbladet, a Swedish newspaper, that "Two of these four are in Sweden's exclusive economic zone," adding that the other two are in the Danish exclusive economic zone.
According to Nord Stream AG, the pipeline's operator, the pressure drop on both Nord Stream strings allows it to confidently assume that the leakage of the gas pipeline is caused by physical damage, and the locations of damage are in the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of Denmark and Sweden, respectively.
"Thank you, USA"
Former Polish minister and member of the European Parliament Radoslaw Sikorski had no reservations about who could have been responsible for Monday's Nord Stream pipeline explosion that shut off Germany from Russian gas.
On Tuesday, Sikorski tweeted "Thank you USA", along with a picture of the massive gas spill in the Baltic Sea. Off the shore of the Danish island of Bornholm, both pipelines sustained significant damage in what is now largely seen as a premeditated attack.
Thank you, USA. pic.twitter.com/nALlYQ1Crb
— Radek Sikorski MEP (@radeksikorski) September 27, 2022
Kermlin calls the incident an act of sabotage
When asked about the possible causes of sudden pressure loss in three of the Baltic Sea gas network's lines, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov suggested that the Nord Stream pipelines had been damaged in an act of sabotage.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Peskov commented on a statement issued by Nord Stream AG, the network's operator, saying that three offshore lines of the Nord Stream pipeline system sustained "unprecedented" damage in just one day.
“No option can be ruled out right now,” Peskov said when asked if the damage may have been the result of sabotage. He added that Moscow is very concerned about the situation and called for an immediate and thorough investigation into the incident, which has implications for energy security on the “entire continent".
Line A of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline held pressure that was pumped with gas but had yet to go into operation, suddenly dropping overnight between Sunday and Monday. Shortly after that, both of Nord Stream 1’s pipelines also suffered a sharp loss of pressure.
Read more: US military aircraft circled Nord Stream incident site in September
