Swedish Coast Guard: 4 leaks found on Nord Stream 1 and 2

Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The Swedish Coast Guard said Thursday that there are a total of four leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, clarifying previous reports and saying no new breaches have been discovered.

The Coast Guard said two leaks have been discovered in the Swedish waters and two in the waters controlled by Denmark, possibly leading to the earlier confusion.

"The distance between the two leaks in Swedish waters is one nautical mile," the Coast Guard said. "The distance from the smaller Swedish leak on Nord Stream 2, to the closest leak in Danish waters is 2.6 nautical miles.

"The Coast Guard received the first information concerning the gas leaks on [Monday] evening. Since Tuesday morning the Coast Guard vessel KBV 003 Amfritrite is in the vicinity of the two gas leaks. Amfritrite is equipped for operating in contamination, such as gas."

Officials are also investigating whether the leaks were caused by a deliberate act as Ukraine, which is defending itself in a seven-month invasion by Russia, has accused Moscow of sabotaging the pipelines.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claimed in a briefing, according to the state-run news agency TASS, on Thursday that NATO had conducted drills in the area with "deep-sea equipment" and the region was "crammed with NATO infrastructure."

The pipelines are 745 miles long under the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast near St. Petersburg to northeastern Germany.

German officials on Tuesday continued to investigate what caused the leaks. The pipelines -- Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, had not been active but were still filled with natural gas when authorities noticed a sharp drop in pressure on Monday.