View taken from a Danish F-16 interceptor of the Nord Stream 2 gas leak just south of Dueodde, Denmark. Danish authorities said they've set up a panel to investigate the incident. Photo by Danish Defense/UPI |
License Photo
Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Authorities in Denmark said Tuesday they set up a joint panel to investigate recent detonations on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, detonations that new video shows left massive tears in the network.
The Nord Stream network consists of four pipelines running from the Russian coast of the Baltic Sea to Germany. It's controlled by Russian energy company Gazprom and has become a source of tension for Western allies looking to distance themselves from the country in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
Maritime authorities in late September suggested that detonations on the sea floor likely triggered several ruptures along the pipeline. Danish authorities had verified through video footage that the leaks created a sea disturbance of around 0.62 miles in diameter.
The pipeline was leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas that has far more warming potential than carbon dioxide.
New video from a Norwegian robotics company, published in the Swedish newspaper Expressen, show a massive hole in one of the pipelines. At least 165 feet of the pipeline were destroyed in an apparent act of sabotage, a BBC report suggested.
Danish police said in a statement that authorities decided to set up a special investigative unit to examine the incident further.
"It is not possible to say when the investigation can be expected to be completed," Danish authorities said. "We understand the great interest in the matter, but at this stage no further information will be provided from the investigation of the gas leaks."
Western allies said Russia was likely behind the incident, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that's part of a propaganda campaign.
"Moreover, of course, you just need to use elementary logic to understand that such sabotage causes great damage to Russian interests," he said, according to Russian news agency Tass.
Littoral states to the Baltic Sea are conducting their own investigations into the incident. Swedish authorities said "certain seizures" were made during their probe.
Neither section of the pipeline was in service at the time of the explosions, though the targeting underscores how geopolitically sensitive the energy sector has become.
