EU & Ukraine call ‘mysterious’ blasts in Nord Stream pipelines a ‘deliberate action’
In a major development, two explosions were recorded in natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany on Monday.
In a major development, two explosions were recorded in natural gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany on Monday. Though the two pipelines do not affect the supply as they were not operational since August this year, European leaders fear this could be a deliberate step to cause pre-winter panic in the European countries. “It is the authorities’ clear assessment that these are deliberate actions -–, not accidents,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. However, she did not clarify who was behind the attack but rejected the claims it was an attack on Denmark. She said the leaks occurred in international waters.
According to the director of the Swedish National Seismic Network, Bjorn Lund, the first blast was reported southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. While the second blast occurred in the northeast of the island and added the blasts were equivalent to a magnitude-2.3 earthquake. Seismic stations in Denmark, Norway and Finland also registered the explosions. “There’s no doubt, this is not an earthquake,” Lund said. Meanwhile, Denmark’s Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod said nearby Sweden, Germany and Poland have been kept informed, and “we will inform and reach out to Russia in this case.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine described the blast as a deliberate step and termed it a “terrorist attack”. Taking to the microblogging site, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said the action was taken by Russia in response to EU sanctions. He also voiced that Moscow wants to manufacture the crisis before the winter and urged world leaders to pour more support into the war-embattled country. “Gas leak from Nord Stream 1 is nothing more than a terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of aggression towards the EU. Russia wants to destabilise the economic situation in Europe and cause pre-winter panic,” Podolyak tweeted. “The best response and security investment are tanks for Ukraine. Especially German ones,” he added.
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EU plans in limbo
It is crucial to note here that ever since the European Union announced a partial embargo on Russian energy, its intention to decrease its dependency on Russian energy seems in trouble. The European countries at first approached the Gulf nations to meet their demands but after facing failure in securing a deal with the Gulf nations, they turned towards the Middle East and the Mediterranean regions. Notably, Europe depends on Russia for roughly 40% of its natural gas needs. Currently, the European leaders have vowed to reduce their dependence by two-thirds.
