Gas blasts spark fear of Putin’s ‘hybrid war’

BRUSSELS: The suspected Russian bombing of two gas pipelines on the Baltic seabed has put Europe on high alert for a devastating attack on its critical infrastructure.

Military analysts said the Kremlin could easily wreak havoc by cutting undersea data cables or destroying another pipeline, as a British defence source suggested the sabotage could have been prepared by drones that laid the explosives weeks earlier.

Future targets could include the cables that carry sensitive financial information across the Atlantic, risking a market crash, or those that supply entire regions such as Orkney, Shetland or parts of Italy with their internet access, according to one former US Navy submarine warfare strategist.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany sprang three separate leaks following a series of apparent explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm on Monday. German officials believe they are beyond repair.

Germany, Sweden, Denmark and the European Commission say the only convincing explanation is an act of deliberate destruction.

Russia has denied responsibility for the blasts, saying allegations that Moscow was behind the attacks were “predictably stupid”.

Russia’s FSB security service said it would investigate the damage as “international terrorism”, the Interfax news agency reported.

For the time being, the leaks will not affect Russia’s already drastically curtailed gas supply to Europe: Moscow shut down Nord Stream 1 this month, and Berlin blocked Nord Stream 2 from beginning operations in February.

The main effect has instead been to spread worries about further acts of aggression against Europe’s vast and, in many cases, indefensible energy and communications networks.

Warnings of submarine sabotage have circulated for years but the Nord Stream incident has driven home the danger at the highest levels of government. Edgars Rinkevics, the Latvian Foreign Minister, described the situation as the start of a “new phase of hybrid war”.

Norway has put its oil and gas facilities on alert for attacks and is increasing its military presence in the surrounding areas, although it said it had received no “specific” intelligence of threats. There have already been at least two apparent sabotage operations against its telecoms cables in the past year.

Germany is fretting about the danger to the five floating liquefied natural gas import terminals it is assembling as it seeks to sever its historic reliance on Russian pipeline gas.

“We are of course in a situation in Europe and Germany where pieces of critical infrastructure, including energy supply, are potential targets,” said Robert Habeck, the German Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor.