Sweden says Baltic Sea pipeline leaking probe ‘strengthens suspicion of sabotage’
Sweden’s internal security agency has said that its preliminary investigation into leaks from two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea “has strengthened suspicions of gross sabotage” as the cause.
The Swedish security service said the probe confirmed that “detonations” caused extensive damage to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines last week.
Authorities had said when the leaks outside Sweden and Denmark first emerged that explosions were being recorded in the area.
The authority does not provide details of its investigation, but in a separate statement Swedish prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist says: “Seizures have been made at the crime scene and these will now be investigated.”
Ljungqvist, who led the preliminary investigation, did not identify the seized evidence, but he said that now that the initial investigation is complete, a blockade around the pipelines outside Sweden will be lifted.
The governments of Denmark and Sweden have previously said they suspected several hundred pounds of explosives were involved in carrying out a deliberate act of sabotage. The leaks from Nord Stream 1 and 2 released large amounts of methane into the air.
Ljungqvist called it “a serious incident” and said “the matter is very sensitive”. He declined to elaborate, saying there is “pretrial confidentiality.”
Last week, underwater explosions ruptured Nord Stream 1 and its sister pipeline, Nord Stream 2, at two locations off Sweden and two off Denmark. The pipelines were built to transport Russian natural gas to Germany.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of attacking the pipelines, which the US and its allies strongly denied.
Danish authorities said the two leaks they were monitoring in international waters stopped over the weekend. One of the leaks outside Sweden also appeared to have stopped.
The Copenhagen police led Denmark’s investigation in collaboration with energy authorities, the National Police and the Danish police intelligence service.