"Big cloud" over Sweden and Norway after the gas leak from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.
According to Swedish and Norwegian media, methane in the skies of Scandinavia has reached record levels . "This is the gas in the white bubbles that are seen rising to the surface of the sea," explain the scientists cited by the Norwegian broadcaster Nrk.
According to the calculations of Stephen Matthew Platt, climate scientist at the Norwegian air research institute Nilu, the suspected sabotage caused the release of about 40,000 tons of methane: "The emissions correspond to double the annual emissions of methane of the industry. oil and gas in Norway. They are record levels, never seen anything like this before in Norway and Sweden. "
In a joint letter to the UN Security Council, Denmark and Sweden state that the very serious damage could have been caused by the detonation of " several hundred kilos of explosives ".
The explosion at four distinct points in the Baltic undoubtedly has a culprit and the EU is looking east, towards Moscow. "It is highly likely that it was a deliberate attack, and not an accident, and it is very unlikely that it is not the responsibility of a state," said Swedish Minister of Energy and Digital Development, Khashayar Farmanbar, alluding to a responsibility of the Kremlin . At the moment the minister himself does not want to speculate "on who and what was the reason for the explosion of the gas pipelines", confirming however that "various government authorities are investigating the safety" of critical infrastructures.
Moscow for its part rejects the accusations and indeed claims to have material that indicates that the fault lies with the West . "We already have some materials that point the western trail in the organization and implementation of the terrorist attack" on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, said SVR head Sergey Naryshkin. "In my opinion, the West is doing everything to hide the real perpetrators and organizers of this terrorist attack."
Meanwhile, the Nord Stream operator has made it known that it plans to start assessing the damage as soon as it receives the necessary official permits. Access to the accident area can only be allowed after the pressure in the pipeline has stabilized and the gas leak has stopped , the company said: "Until the damage assessment is completed, the timing cannot be predicted. for the rehabilitation of the gas transport infrastructure ".
(Unioneonline / D)