On the North Stream gas pipelines, three leaks occurred on one day. In Europe, they suspect a focused attack from either Russia or Ukraine

Danish Defense Command / AP / Scanpix / Leta gas bubbles in the leakage area on the Northern Stream gas pipelines

Nord Stream announced the destruction of three threads of the North Stream system . We are talking about both threads of the Nord Stream - 1 and one of the two threads of the Nord Stream - 2 (both gas pipelines go from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea). The operator has announced leaks on them on September 26. The incidents occurred on one day and in the same zone - in the area of the Danish Island of Bornholm. Destruction "is unprecedented in nature", the recovery time is still unknown, noted in Nord Stream.

In Sweden, two explosions were recorded in the area of the scene of the accident . As the representative of the Swedish national seismic network Bjorn Lund told the SVT channel, the first explosion occurred on September 26 in the region of two in the morning local time, the second at seven in the evening of the same day. One of the explosions was so powerful (magnitude 2.3) that it was recorded by seismic stations throughout Sweden. Soon after the explosions near the places where they occurred, the passing vessels noticed gas bubbles on the surface of the water.

The authorities of Sweden, Denmark and Germany began an investigation . The North Stream received serious damage, said the head of the Danish energy agency Christophfer Bettzau. “This is not a small crack. This is a really big hole, ”he said. According to him, gas bubbles come up over the place of accident within a radius of more than 50 meters. In addition, leaks create excitement at sea, which is unsafe for vessels. They can last up to a week, according to the head of the Danish energy agency.

Gas bubbles at one of the places of leaks. Video of the Armed Forces of Denmark

The authorities of Denmark and Germany did not exclude that the "northern stream" was deliberately damaged . “It is too early to draw conclusions, but this is an emergency. There are three leaks, so it’s hard to imagine that this could be by chance, ”said the Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredricksen. The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov also did not exclude that the damage to the three branches of the gas pipeline was the result of the sabotage. He called the incident “unprecedented situation”, which the Kremlin “is extremely concerned”.

Updated . Sweden police qualified leaks on gas pipelines as a "rough sabotage."

Gas pipelines could be attacked with the participation of divers or submarines, the German edition of Der Tagesspiegel wrote with reference to a source close to the investigation. The newspaper brought two versions that the investigation considers: one at a time, there is Ukraine or pro -Ukrainian forces behind the attack, for the other, Russia is involved in it. Advisor to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak called the incident “a terrorist attack planned by Russia”, the purpose of which is to “destabilize the economic situation in Europe and cause panic before winter.”

Gas pipelines of the North Stream system have not worked recently . The Nord Stream 2, built in 2021, was not launched: Germany stopped the process of its certification shortly before Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Northern Stream - 1 has been working since 2012, but was stopped by Russia in early September - on the day when the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Lyaina announced the plan to introduce a ceiling of prices for Russian gas. Russia officially stated that the reason for the gas pipeline stop was difficulties in serving its equipment due to sanctions, but the EU believes that this is an attempt to pressure in response to Ukraine’s support from European countries.