Macron urges coordinated action to ensure gas infrastructure security

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During a press conference after the Informal EU 27 Summit and Meeting within the European Political Community in Prague, French President Emmanuel Macron proposed a coordinated operation to ensure the security of key gas infrastructure in the North and Baltic Seas.  

"We have proposed to a number of countries with gas infrastructure in the North and Baltic Seas to start a coordinated operation, which we are doing regularly, to ensure infrastructure security, as well as to establish more frequent monitoring of it," Macron said.

A rapid gas pressure drop and leakage were registered on September 26 in three natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany, after which German newspaper Tagesspiegel claimed the incident was not a coincidence and suspects a "targeted attack".

In a press conference, Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry 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.

On September 29, the Swedish Coast Guard found a fourth gas leak in the damaged Nord Stream pipes, according to Coast Guard spokesman Jenny Larsson.

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.

The German newspaper quoted an informed source as saying that the German government and agencies investigating the incident "can’t imagine a scenario that isn't a targeted attack."

On its part, Moscow as well was 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".

The gas leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines are the result of a deliberate act, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said after the first leak, without specifying the party responsible, and Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde commented by saying that the disruption was caused by detonations, which indicates that it was sabotage.