FOUR LEAKS
A total of four leaks were detected on the Nord Stream pipelines—two on Nord Stream 1 and two on Nord Stream 2—in late September, sparking widespread suspicions and concerns, including by NATO, of sabotage. While both Nord Stream pipelines, which travel through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, were not in operation, both were filled with gas that leaked to the surface of the water. Nord Stream 1 had recently stopped supplying gas and Nord Stream 2 never began operating.

The fourth leak, off southern Sweden, was reported by the Swedish coast guard on Sept. 29. The earlier three leaks were reported on Sept. 26. Nord Stream AG, the operator of the network, issued a statement that flagged the close timing of the three leaks. It told reporters: “The destruction that occurred on the same day simultaneously on three strings of the offshore gas pipelines of the Nord Stream system is unprecedented.”

Prior to reports about the three leaks, explosions were recorded along the Nord Stream pipelines. A first explosion was recorded by seismologists early Monday southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. A second, stronger blast northeast of the island that night was equivalent to a magnitude-2.3 earthquake. Seismic stations in Denmark, Norway, and Finland also registered the explosions.

Chief of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service told the Russian TASS news agency on Friday that they have intelligence data on sabotage at the two pipelines, but did not elaborate.

Nord Stream 1 had been the main source of Russian gas to Europe until late Aug. 19, when Russian state-owned oil and gas firm Gazprom shut off the gas for maintenance. In early September, Gazprom announced it had abandoned plans to restart gas flows through the pipeline to Germany indefinitely, saying that an oil leak in a critical turbine was not yet fixed. Russia has blamed international sanctions over the war in Ukraine for deterring the pipeline’s routine maintenance.

Meanwhile, Nord Stream 2 never came into operation. Germany in February halted the certification of the gas pipeline shortly prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. At the time, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the refusal to certify the pipeline was in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recognition of the independence of two Russian-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine.