Sweden: Minor leak still visible on Nord Stream 2
The Swedish Coast Guard announces that there is no longer any visible leak on Nord Stream 1, while a smaller leak remains visible on Nord Stream 2.
The Swedish coast guard stated on Monday that at this point no leak from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was visible in the Baltic Sea, but a minor leak from Nord Stream 2 was still visible.
The Coast Guard said in a statement that “the larger leak is now no longer visible on the surface while the smaller one has instead increased slightly.”
On Monday, an overflight conducted around 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT) allowed observations of the two pipelines by the Swedish Coast Guard, which noted that “at that time, the smaller leak was about 30 meters in diameter.”
Gazprom said on Monday that “it was working to depressurize the B line of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline” by pumping out the natural gas so the pipeline could be safely inspected.
Both Nord Stream 1 and 2 consist of two lines, and both Nord Stream 2 leaks occurred on the A line.
The Russian energy titan went on to say that the Nord Stream 2 B pipeline can still be used to transport gas.
“If the decision is made to start deliveries via the Nord Stream 2 B line, natural gas will be pumped into the pipeline after the integrity of the system has been checked and the regulatory authorities have confirmed such a possibility,” Gazprom said in a statement on its Telegram channel.
Nord Stream 2, which was built in parallel with Nord Stream 1, was supposed to double the capacity of Russian gas supplies to Germany.
But in the days before Russia’s operation in Ukraine, Berlin stopped the opening of the newly built Nord Stream 2.
It is worth noting that both Nord Stream lines, which linked Russia to Germany, have been at the heart of geopolitical tensions as the collective West began to sanction Russia over the Ukraine issue.
US official: UK and US navies capable of Nord Stream attack
The US and the UK may be behind the explosions in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, said Douglas Macgregor, former adviser to the US Secretary of Defense in the administration of former US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Andrew Napolitano, host of the Judging Freedom podcast.
“You have to look at who are the state actors that have the ability to do this. And that means that [UK’s] Royal Navy and United States Navy <...> “I think that’s pretty clear,” Macgregor said.
Macgregor further noted the significance of the publication by Poland’s former FM and current member of the European Parliament, Radoslaw Sikorski, who thanked the US for damaging Nord Stream 1 and 2 via his Twitter page.
The ex-Pentagon adviser argued the absurdity of the rhetoric that Russia was behind the attack, saying “the Russians did not do this”, while adding that Germany’s involvement in the incident was also “extremely unlikely”.
read more: Baltic Pipe starts pumping gas from Norway to Poland