Ukraine said Tuesday that reported gas leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines linking Russia and Europe were likely the result of a “terrorist attack” carried out by Moscow.
“The large-scale ‘gas leak’ from Nord Stream 1 is nothing more than a terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of aggression towards the EU,” Kyiv’s presidential advisor Mikhaylo Podolyak said on Twitter.
Podolyak accused Russia of seeking to “destabilize the economic situation in Europe and cause pre-winter panic”.
Scandinavian authorities said on Tuesday that two leaks had been identified on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in the Baltic Sea — one in the Danish economic zone and the other in Sweden’s — hours after a drop in pressure was reported on Nord Stream 2.
The Swedish seismological institute told AFP that two underwater blasts were recorded prior to the discovery of the gas leaks.
The Kremlin earlier on Tuesday said it was “extremely concerned” about the gas leaks and did not rule out that it could be an act of sabotage.
The pipelines have been at the center of geopolitical tensions in recent months as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation against Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
Built in parallel to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, Nord Stream 2 was intended to double the capacity for Russian gas imports to Germany.
But Berlin blocked the newly completed Nord Stream 2 in the days before the war in Ukraine.