Nord Stream blasts could herald new phase of hybrid war, say EU politicians

Large amounts of natural gas have been pouring into the Baltic Sea since Monday through three separate leaks on the two Nord Stream pipelines built to deliver Russian gas to Europe. Seismologists recorded explosions in the Swedish and Danish waters where the pipeline passes the island of Bornholm on Monday morning and evening, suggesting the leaks were deliberate.

Norway has expressed concern about a number of recent sightings of unidentified drones or aircraft inside the safety exclusion zones that surround oil and gas facilities. Its energy minister, Terje Aasland, said on Tuesday that Oslo was coordinating with the Norwegian armed forces, police, and oil and gas industry operators on security issues.

Gassco, the Norwegian state-owned pipeline operator that runs about 9,000 kilometres of gas infrastructure, said it was sharing information with Danish and Swedish authorities about the Nord Stream incident.

Nord Stream 2, a project driven along by German governments for years in spite of warnings from its easterly neighbours, was halted by the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, shortly before the start of the war and has never transported any gas to Germany.

While there have been calls from political parties on the far right and the far left to open the pipeline as an energy crisis looms over Europe this autumn, a German U-turn on the subject in the imminent future is highly unlikely under the current balance of political power in the country, even while the pipeline remained intact.

Nord Stream 1, through which a significant amount of European gas demands was met until spring this year, was gradually throttled by the Russian state-owned gas giant Gazprom and has not carried any gas to Germany since the start of September.

US intelligence this summer warned the German government of a possible attack on gas pipelines in the Baltic, Der Spiegel reported earlier. Citing sources familiar with the subject, the news magazine said the CIA had issued such a warning only a few weeks ago.