Sweden seizes “evidence” of pipeline leakage
Sweden’s internal security agency says its preliminary investigation into leaks from two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea “has strengthened suspicions of gross sabotage” as the cause, and a prosecutor says evidence at the scene has been seized.
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 agency, which said what happened in the Baltic Sea was “very serious,” did not provide details of its investigation.
But in a separate statement, Swedish prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist says that “seizures have been made at the crime scene and these will now be investigated”.
Ljungqvist, who led the preliminary investigation, has not identified the seized evidence.
Ljungqvist said he gave “directives to temporarily block (the area) and carry out a crime scene investigation”.
Now that the first sounding is complete, a blockade around the pipelines outside Sweden will be lifted, he said.
Last week, underwater explosions ruptured Nord Stream and its sister pipeline, Nord Stream 2, in two locations off Sweden and two off Denmark.
The pipelines were built to transport Russian natural gas to Germany.
Danish authorities said the two methane leaks they were monitoring in international waters stopped over the weekend.
One of the leaks outside Sweden also appeared to have stopped.