Sweden sends a special diving vessel to the area of pipeline leaks – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – (AP) – Sweden has sent a vessel capable of “advanced diving missions” to the Baltic Sea area where ruptured underwater pipelines had been leaking natural gas for days, the Swedish navy said Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of sabotaging Russian-built natural gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to Germany, an allegation. vehemently denied by the US and its allies, who noted that Russia has been blackmailing Europe with reduced gas supplies for months.
Last week, underwater explosions with several hundred pounds of explosives damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines off southern Sweden and Denmark and led to large methane leaks in international waters in the Baltic Sea.
Captain Jimmie Adamsson, a spokesman for the Swedish navy, told The Associated Press that a submarine rescue vessel had been sent to the scene of the leak off Sweden and was supporting the Swedish coast guard in charge of the work.
It was unclear when someone or something might go down to the pipelines, either divers or a submarine.
The Coast Guard said one of its vessels, the Amfritrite, was at the scene to monitor nearby marine traffic. It added that bad weather is expected, which will complicate the situation.
Over the weekend, authorities in Denmark said the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines had stopped leaking.
However, the Swedish coastguard said one of its planes had reported that the smaller leak over Nord Stream 2 “instead has increased somewhat again”, was about 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter and that it may take “some time” before it stays.
The coast guard gave no explanation as to why the leak had increased. The other, over Nord Stream 1, has stopped, it said.
Danish authorities monitored the two gas leaks east of the Danish Baltic Bornholm — above Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 — with the frigate Absalon, the environmental vessel Gunnar Thorson and a military helicopter.
Sweden’s public prosecutor’s office and the Security Police are leading an investigation, while the Copenhagen Police was responsible for an investigation in Denmark.
A joint international investigation group from, among others, Denmark, Germany and Sweden was also being set up.
The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting on Friday about the pipeline attacks and Norwegian scientists published a map showing that a huge plume of methane from the damaged pipelines will travel across much of the Nordic region.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen noted on Monday that “unfortunately, both a present and a future are emerging, which are gloomier than we are used to. Authoritarian forces are gaining ground and the international community is in chaos.”
“We got a scary taste of it last week with the leaks on Nord Stream 1 and 2. It was surprising and worrying,” she said.
Frederiksen spoke as she presented an 86-page analysis of Denmark’s foreign and security policy situation up to 2035.
Written before the gas leaks were reported, it concluded “a new Iron Curtain is descending over Europe after Russia’s brutal attack on Ukraine. Russia’s willingness to use military force to change borders in Europe and try to enforce a European order based on spheres of interest means that (Denmark) stands in the face of a significantly heightened threat picture.”
In Norway, members of a voluntary military unit, the Home Guard, were deployed outside several petroleum facilities, following a request from the police, to prevent “unwanted incidents”.
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