Swedish Investigators Find Evidence of ‘Serious Sabotage’ of Nord Stream Pipelines

A gas leak from Nord stream 1 in the Swedish economic zone in the Baltic Sea in this picture taken from the Swedish Coast Guard aircraft on Sept. 28, 2022. (Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via TT News Agency/via Reuters)

A Swedish agency on Oct. 6 found in its preliminary investigation that leaks from the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea were likely caused by “serious sabotage.”

The Swedish Security Service confirmed that “detonations" were responsible for the extensive damage last week to the wholly Russian-owned pipelines. Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden also have said that the damage wasn’t of natural origin, saying that blasts most likely were the cause. Evidence taken from the site will be examined.

“During the crime scene investigation ... seizures have been made,” the Security Service stated. “As part of the work,” it added in a statement, “the seizures will now be reviewed and analyzed.”

“The continued preliminary investigation must show whether someone can be served with suspicion and later prosecuted,” the agency said, adding the blasts are a “very serious” development.

Now that the initial investigation is completed, a blockade around the pipelines off Sweden will be lifted, Swedish officials also said on Oct. 6.

The governments of Denmark and Sweden previously said they suspected that several hundred pounds of explosives were involved in carrying out a deliberate act of sabotage. The leaks from Nord Stream 1 and 2 discharged huge amounts of methane into the air.

Danish authorities said the two methane leaks they were monitoring in international waters stopped over the weekend. One of the leaks off Sweden also appears to have ended.

Energy Standoff

Officials in the European Union have publicly suspected sabotage, since the ruptures occurred in the midst of an energy standoff between the EU, Germany, and Moscow. Authorities in Moscow have said accusations that Russia is likely to blame are “predictably stupid,” noting that the pipelines are Russian-owned infrastructure and that the natural gas inside them is also Russian in origin.

Jeffrey Sachs gives a discussion in Trondheim, Norway, on June 21, 2017. (Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

It’s also been suggested that the United States or one of its allies was behind the sabotage attack, which Pentagon and White House officials have categorically denied.

Earlier this week, a top economist with Columbia University, Jeffrey Sachs, publicly speculated that the United States would have the most to gain from the attack because it would then be able to sell its natural gas to Europe by cutting out Russia.

Sachs also pointed to public statements made by President Joe Biden about the pipeline and last week’s comment from Secretary of State Antony Blinken that it’s now a “tremendous opportunity” for the EU to reduce dependency on Russian gas.

In a statement on Oct. 6, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote that EU countries were betrayed by the United States. She noted that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak recently said Russia was ready to supply gas through an undamaged branch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

“Will anyone now dare claim after that our country is behind this act of sabotage? I agree it’s hard to face the truth. But someday the EU countries will have to face up to the fact they were betrayed by their allies,” Zakharova wrote.

US Not Involved in ‘Sabotage’

During a Fox News interview on Oct. 4, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby flatly denied that Washington had anything to do with the incident. Those allegations, he asserted, are Russian propaganda.

“That’s just Russian propaganda and disinformation,” Kirby told Fox News. “Now, we know it was an act of sabotage, but there’s an investigation going on right now. I don’t think we’re going to get into credentialing that in terms of who was responsible. We’re going to let the investigators take a look at that. But, clearly, this was an act of sabotage.”

No nation-state or group has claimed responsibility for the blasts. The United States also hasn’t accused any country of carrying out a sabotage attack.

White House spokesman John Kirby speaks to reporters in Washington on Aug. 2, 2022. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

“Again, I can’t speak to specific accountability for this act of sabotage,” Kirby said. “I can just assure you the United States had nothing to do with it, of course. That’s just Russian propaganda.”

But later in the interview, Kirby implied that Russia could be behind it.

“Just look at what Russia has done in the past since the last seven months of this war and when it began and that is to weaponize energy,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.