Copenhagen: Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that her government considers the Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks to be “deliberate actions”.
“It is the clear assessment by authorities that these are deliberate actions. It was not an accident,” Frederiksen told journalists late here Tuesday.
On Monday, Danish and Swedish officials said that leaks had been identified in two natural gas pipelines — Nord Stream 1 and its twin, Nord Stream 2 — under the Baltic Sea off the coast of Denmark’s Bornholm island, near the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden, reports Xinhua news agency.
Frederiksen said that “two explosions” have been registered, but she refused to speculate as to who might be responsible.
Also addressing the reporters, Dan Jorgensen, the Minister for Climate, Energy and Utilities, said: “The gas pipes lie at a depth of 70 to 90 metres and consist of over 12 cm thick layers of steel and concrete, respectively. The nature of the leaks indicates that there are such large holes that it cannot have happened by accident.”
He said that the leaks are not expected to cause supply security issues in the short term.
Citing Denmark’s foreign intelligence service, Defence Minister Morten Bodskov said that it did not see any increased military threat against Denmark after the leaks.
“I would like to emphasize that the defence intelligence service does not consider that there is an increased military threat to Denmark,” he said.
Bodskov added that no advance warnings had been received, but that there had been an increase in tensions around the Baltic Sea.
“This is a serious matter. The defence is increasing its presence around Bornholm.”
Bodskov has a previously scheduled meeting dedicated to the Nord Stream pipelines with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday.
(IANS)
