Nord Stream ‘sabotage’ blast blew 50m hole in pipeline as suspicion falls on Moscow
AN EXPLOSION in the Nord Stream gas pipeline last month destroyed more than 50 metres of the network, underwater images reveal.
Video footage shows a large tear in the infrastructure, with much of the stretch of pipe either missing or buried under the seabed.
“It is only an extreme force that can bend metal that thick in the way we are seeing,” Trond Larsen, a drone operator with the Norwegian company Blueye Robotics, told Danish newspaper Expressen. Mr Larsen, who piloted the submersible drone, said that “a very large impact on the seabed around the pipe” was also visible.
The cause of the blasts remains unknown but Western officials have suggested sabotage, possibly by Russia, to push up gas prices further and increase instability. Investigations have so far been inconclusive but Ukraine has suggested that Moscow may have planted a bomb inside the pipeline connecting Russian supplies to Germany during construction.
The network and its newer twin, Nord Stream 2, were damaged by explosions under the Baltic Sea on Sept 26, causing four leaks.
While the blasts took place in international waters, two of them were in the Danish exclusive economic zone and two in the Swedish zone. Danish officials confirmed there had been “extensive damage” to the two concrete-reinforced steel pipes and that the cause of the damage was “powerful explosions”.
Swedish authorities announced on Oct 6 that they had conducted an underwater inspection and “pieces of evidence” backed up suspicions of probable sabotage.
The Kremlin accused international investigations of being “tailored” to place the blame on Russia. “From statements we hear from Germany, France and Denmark, this investigation is being tailored to place blame on Russia,” said Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman. “This is absurd. Russia would not blow up its own pipeline.”
Moscow has sought to pin the blame on the West, suggesting that the United States stood to gain. Washington has denied any involvement.