Europe is unlikely to receive gas via Nord Stream in winter, Austria says

VIENNA, 28 Sep – PRIME. Europe will not receive gas via Nord Stream in winter as a result of a sabotage, this scenario is “very likely,” Austrian Energy Minister Leonore Gewessler told reporters on Wednesday.

“This, obviously, is a sabotage act, which means for us, first of all, that it is very likely that gas will not flow through Nord Stream this winter, as in previous weeks. For us, this is for Europe,” the minister said. , adding that, in addition, it is an “environmental catastrophe”.

On Monday, Nord Stream 2 AG reported that on one of the lines of Nord Stream 2 (it was filled with technical gas after construction), an emergency occurred in Danish waters near the island of Bornholm, accompanied by a sharp drop in pressure. The reasons are unknown, an investigation is underway, the company specified. Then Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream, reported on the pressure drop on both lines. The reasons are also not known.

The work of Nord Stream has been suspended since the end of August due to problems with the repair of Siemens turbines caused by Western sanctions. However, the pipeline remained filled with gas.

According to information from the Danish and Swedish authorities, two gas leaks were discovered at Nord Stream in the northeast of Bornholm Island and one at Nord Stream 2 in the southeast of the island. As Bloomberg reported, Germany and Denmark did not rule out that the leaks at Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 were due to sabotage. So, an unnamed representative of the German security services told the agency that “the evidence indicates that it was more of a forceful action than a technical problem.” The Swedish seismic center said that powerful underwater explosions were registered in the area of ​​gas leaks from Nord Stream on Monday, a journalist from the Swedish TV channel SVT reported. The media reported that the Swedish police launched an investigation into a possible sabotage after the emergency at Nord Stream.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde on Tuesday evening said that the incidents with gas leakage from the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines were due to “explosions”. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, after the emergency at Nord Stream, threatened to respond to the “deliberate violation” of the European energy infrastructure, without specifying who could be behind the incident.

At the same time, former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski rejoiced at the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipeline, and also wrote on social networks “Thank you, USA,” without specifying what he meant. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in response to this, wondered if this post was an official statement about the terrorist attack.

In the White House, a little earlier, they said that the United States would not “speculate” about the reasons for the leaks at Nord Stream and were ready to provide assistance to European countries.

The Kremlin later said that they expected information from the Danes and Swedes on the state of emergency at Nord Stream.