All the news on sabotage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines
What the governments of Germany, Denmark and Sweden say about the accidents at the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. The CIA warning. All the details in the article by Pierluigi Mennitti from Berlin
Three gas leaks a few kilometers apart, around the Danish island of Bornholm, from the pipes of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, a symbol of the European Union's energy dependence on Russia. Three explosions at close range, large patches of bubbles photographed by Danish Air Force F-16 jets, which took off early in the morning right from the key island for energy and military security of Copenhagen.
A CORRELATION WITH THE INAUGURATION OF THE BALTIC PIPELINE?
Among the first assessments of technicians and intelligence men, that of Frank Umbach, an energy security expert at the University of Bonn, adds a piece that can prove to be decisive for understanding the mosaic of what happened. "The sabotage could be related to the launch from 1 October of the so-called Baltic Pipeline, the Baltic gas pipeline that will transport Norwegian gas through Denmark to Poland, thus definitively ensuring Polish energy independence from Russia," he says. Umbach in an interview granted to the news program of the German public TV Zdf.
"This new gas pipeline is of great importance, not only for Poland but also for the whole EU and is a thorn in the side of the Russian Federation", continues the professor from Bonn, "and its route runs just south of the island of Bornholm, crossing that of the two Nord Streams ”.
WARSAW ALARM
Umbach's alarm is the same one that also sounded in Warsaw. Yesterday Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz had already pointed the finger at Moscow: "Unfortunately, our eastern neighbor is pursuing an aggressive policy", he said, "and if it is able to deploy it in Ukraine, it is obvious that it cannot be exclude any provocation, not even in the regions located in Western Europe ”. And just yesterday, the prime ministers of Poland and Denmark, Mateusz Morawiecki and Mette Frederiksen were together not many kilometers from the point of the incidents: exactly in the Polish port city of Goleniow, for the baptism of the Baltic Pipeline, defined by Morawiecki as the gas pipeline "of the freedom, sovereignty, security and peace ”.
It was the Polish premier himself who underlined in his inauguration speeches the energy-military significance of the new pipeline, as opposed to the two Russian gas pipelines, underlining its link with allied countries: "Let us show the world that through cooperation and solidarity it is possible to increase energy security and sovereignty of our continent. Poland, Norway and Denmark are part of NATO, the strongest military alliance in the history of the world and the Baltic pipeline is the opposite of the projects that served the military purposes of Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is the opposite of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines ”.
THE WAR ENTERS A NEW PHASE OF UNCERTAINTY
All the governments interested in the affair and whose security authorities are working to identify the causes are now speaking with conviction of a sabotage: those in Denmark, Germany and Sweden. No one yet pronounces the word attack, also because the investigations are underway and will probably last a long time, given the depth in the sea where the explosions took place. Nor is it certain that the conclusions will be able to identify the author. But the German weekly Spiegel , which yesterday published a series of indiscretions not denied by politicians, today observes that "the war is entering a new phase, a phase full of confusion". So far the actions, if we can say so in a war, have been understandable, continues the analysis of the weekly: attacks, gains of ground, counterattacks, reconquest. Now uncertainty comes into play. Although investigations into the incident are still ongoing, the German government is not alone in believing that it was an act of sabotage that, according to experts, could only have been carried out by a state actor, given the immense effort required.
SPIEGEL, THE CIA HAD WARNED BERLIN OF POSSIBLE ATTACKS ON NORTH STREAM
"A state actor". The Spiegel throws another bomb: the US secret service CIA allegedly warned the German government of possible attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea and a special "tip" had already been received in Berlin in the summer.
A government spokesperson said the government does not comment on intelligence matters. However, Spiegel confirms that several people familiar with the matter have confirmed the advance warnings.
What the German government did with this information and how it moved in the following weeks will likely be the subject of research by the German media as well. Certainly yesterday, a few hours after the news about the gas leaks broke, news leaked from government circles that the security authorities were testing the concepts that oversee the safety of other gas pipelines and gas supply facilities.
EFFECT ON GAS PRICES ONLY FOR THE SHORT TERM
The last chapter is about the markets. Also the German government yesterday spoke of "a targeted attack on infrastructure and European gas markets". For the Bonn professor Umbach "Putin has an interest in an escalation of the conflict with the West also on the energy front" but the projected insecurity on the gas markets will in any case "be short-term, because the weight of these two gas pipelines in the context of global supplies were already very low ”. The Nord Stream 2 never went into operation, the Nord Stream 1 was in fact closed by Gazprom with the excuse of maintenance work at the end of August, after having already transported small quantities of gas for three months. It can be said that gas was no longer arriving in Europe from the Baltic pipelines. "Nord Stream 1 and 2 were already history", concluded With today, the German government will feel vindicated in its decision, and of course this also applies to the EU and Poland, for example, which would never have accepted the 'entry into operation of Nord Stream 2 ”.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/sabotaggi-gasdotti-nord-stream-1-2-cosa-sappiamo/ on Wed, 28 Sep 2022 06:09:29 +0000.