Traces of explosives were found near the sites of the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, Sweden said on Friday, noting that the incident is "gross sabotage."
Gas leaks in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were discovered at the end of September 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".
Sweden, Denmark, and Germany are also jointly investigating the incident with the gas pipelines built to carry Russian gas to Germany via the Baltic Sea.
Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.
The investigation into the explosion continues, but Sweden's public prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, who leads the preliminary investigation, says that the incident was a "gross sabotage," the Swedish Prosecution Authority said today.
"Analyses that have now been carried out show traces of explosives on several of the foreign objects that were found," Ljungqvist said, without giving further details about the ongoing investigation.
At the end of October, Russia accused the UK Navy of being involved in the explosions that put the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines out of commission.
In response, the UK Ministry of Defence said that "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."
Today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Russia, commenting on the news out of Sweden, that the fact that "data has already begun to come in, in favor of confirming a subversive act or a terrorist act... once again confirms the information that Russia has."
By Josh Owens for Oilprice.com
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Josh Owens is the Content Director at Oilprice.com. An International Relations and Politics graduate from the University of Edinburgh, Josh specialized in Middle East and… More
Comments
The fact that Sweden, Denmark and Germany who are jointly investigating the sabotage have refused to let a Russian representative join the investigations suggests that they are trying to hide facts about the real culprit.
Russia has already accused the British Navy of taking part in the act sabotage. And while the British Navy could have been the tool, the real culprit is the United States based on the following circumstantial evidence.
1- It has a motive. The US is the one country 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- It stands to benefit handsomely by replacing cheap Russian piped natural gas supplies to the EU with its more expensive LNG exports. The US is milking the EU for its LNG supplies.
3- It is one who has the geopolitical aim and determination to sever the EU’s dependence on Russian gas for ever. The US has never hidden its aim of weaning the EU off Russian gas.
This circumstantial evidence fits one and only country hand in glove: the United States.
Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
International Oil Economist
Global Energy Expert