Focus of the week: what happened to the Nord Streams?

The damage to the threads of the Russian Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 pipelines has become one of the main news of the week. This incident provoked an increase in gas prices, as well as mutual accusations by the West and Russia of deliberate sabotage against the most important elements of the European energy infrastructure.

Recall that on Monday, September 26, Denmark reported a leak on one of the two strands of the Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline in the Danish part of the Baltic Sea near Bornholm Island. A little later, Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream-1, also reported a drop in pressure on both lines of this gas pipeline, noting that the leakiness of the gas pipeline was caused by physical damage. 

However, the causes of the damage and the timing of the restoration of the gas pipelines have not yet been established, and investigations are continuing.

The German Government, as well as representatives of the European Commission and EU countries are also confident that the damage and damage were caused by deliberate actions.

EC Head Ursula von der Leyen said: «Any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response.»

It is worth noting that in the geopolitical space there were suggestions that the accidents on the gas pipelines were provoked by Russia itself. In response, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that such assumptions are «predictable and absurd.»