Sweden confirms Nord Stream pipeline sabotage: Prosecutor – World
World
The analyzes carried out found traces of explosives at the explosion sites.
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – Swedish officials confirmed on Friday (Nov 18) that the explosions in September that destroyed parts of the Nord Stream pipeline carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea were acts of sabotage.
“The conducted analyzes found traces of explosives on several foreign objects” found at the blast sites, says prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, who leads the preliminary investigation, in a statement.
Ljungqvist added that technical analyzes are continuing to “draw more reliable conclusions about the event”.
The prosecutor’s office said that “the continuing investigation will show whether anyone can be formally suspected of crimes”.
Four major gas leaks were discovered on Nord Stream’s two pipelines off the Danish island of Bornholm in late September, with seismic institutes registering two underwater explosions shortly before.
Investigators had already said that preliminary inspections had reinforced suspicions of sabotage.
While the leaks were in international waters, two of them were in the Danish exclusive economic zone and two of them in Sweden’s.
At the end of October, Nord Stream sent a Russian-flagged civilian vessel to inspect the damage in the Swedish zone.
The pipelines, which connect Russia to Germany, have been at the center of geopolitical tensions as Russia cuts gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation to Western sanctions against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Although the pipelines were not operating when the leaks occurred, both still contained gas that spewed up through the water and into the atmosphere.
Washington and Moscow have both denied any involvement and each has pointed the finger at the other.
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