Moscow has pointed the finger at London for the explosions that put the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines out of commission. London has denied any involvement, Reuters reported this weekend.
"According to available information, representatives of this unit of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year - blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines," the Russian defense ministry said.
"To detract from their disastrous handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defence is resorting to peddling false claims of an epic scale," the Foreign Office said in response.
Four leaks, two in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, were discovered in early October after gas started leaking earlier this week from the infrastructure just outside Swedish and Danish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
An investigation launched by the Swedish authorities concluded that the leaks were the result of detonations, likely the result of "serious sabotage". The Swedish side refused to share the conclusions of its investigations with Russia but it said this week it will continue the investigation. The preliminary one did not end with naming a party responsible for the blasts.
Stockholm also declined a joint investigation of the blasts with Denmark and Germany, citing national security concerns. The lead prosecutor on the case said Sweden was already cooperating with its two neighbors on the matter.
Russia, meanwhile, started its own investigation of the blasts, with the company that operates the infrastructure saying at the end of last week that "After carrying out calibration works, the specialists will be ready within 24 hours to start the survey of the damaged area that would take three to five days according to current estimates," Upstream reported.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. More
Comments
1- A country with a motive. The US is the one country in the world that has a long history of opposing and trying to block the building of Soviet and Russian oil and gas pipelines connecting Russia to Europe.
2- A country that could benefit handsomely by replacing cheap Russian piped natural gas supplies to the EU with its more expensive LNG exports. The US is now milking the EU for its LNG supplies.
3- And one who has the geopolitical aim and determination to sever the EU’s dependence on Russian gas for ever. The US never hid its aim of weaning the EU off Russian gas.
Anyone looking at this circumstantial evidence will immediately recognize that it fits one country hand in glove: the United States.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert