Europe probes `sabotage' on Russian gas pipelines to continent

Europe was investigating on Tuesday what Germany and Denmark said were attacks that had caused major leaks into the Baltic Sea from two Russian pipelines at the centre of an energy standoff.

But it remained far from clear who might be behind the leaks that were first reported on Monday or any foul play, if proven, on the Nord Stream pipelines that Russia and European partners spent billions of dollars building.

German Economy Minister Robert Habeck told business leaders that the leaks were due to targeted attacks on the infrastructure and Berlin now knew for sure “that they were not caused by natural occurrences or events or material fatigue.”

Poland's prime minister blamed sabotage, without citing evidence, Denmark's premier said the leaks were clearly caused by deliberate actions and Swedish police said they had begun an investigation into potential “gross sabotage.”

Russia, which cut gas deliveries to Europe after the West imposed sanctions over Moscow 's invasion of Ukraine, also said sabotage was a possibility and that the leaks undermined the continent's energy security.

A senior Ukrainian official called the incident a Russian attack, without giving proof.

“We see clearly that it's an act of sabotage, related to the next step of escalation of the situation in Ukraine,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the opening of a pipeline between Norway and Poland.

Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden had registered two powerful blasts on Monday in the area of the leaks. “The signals do not resemble signals from earthquakes. They do resemble the signals typically recorded from blasts,” the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) said. Seismologists at Sweden's Uppsala University, which co-operates with GEUS, said the second, bigger explosion “corresponded to more than 100 (kilograms) of dynamite.”

The leaks were very large and it could take perhaps a week for gas to stop draining out of the pipeline, said Kristoffer Bottzauw, the head of Denmark's Energy Agency.

The incidents will scupper expectations that Europe could receive fuel via Nord Stream 1 before winter.

HANDOUT/DANISH DEFENCE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Gas leaks from the Nord Stream pipeline off the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. It was unclear if targeted attacks were to blame for the leaks from the two Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia and Europe.