DEA invites Nord Stream to help lift object found near gas pipeline

MOSCOW, 24 Mar – The Danish Energy Agency (DEA) has invited the operator of Nord Stream, Nord Stream 2 AG, to take part in an operation to recover an object found near the gas pipeline.

Earlier, Vladimir Putin said that Russia offered Denmark to check Nord Stream for other explosives, but the answer was vague. Specialists of “Gazprom”, according to him, during the study of the gas pipeline found a certain “column” at a distance of about 30 kilometers from the site of the explosion. It was installed in a vulnerable place – at the junction of pipes. Experts believe that this could be an antenna for receiving a signal to activate an explosive device that could be placed under the pipeline system. Putin noted that several explosive devices could have been planted there, but some exploded, and some did not.

The agency is awaiting a response from Nord Stream 2 AG before proceeding with the operation.

The agency also released a photograph of the “object”, noting that it is cylindrical in shape, about 40 centimeters high and 10 centimeters in diameter. It is assumed that we can talk about a sea smoke buoy.

In September last year, two Russian export gas pipelines to Europe, Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2, exploded at once. Germany, Denmark and Sweden did not rule out targeted sabotage. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia initiated a case on an act of international terrorism.

American journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh on February 8 published his investigation into the sabotage at Nord Stream, in which, citing a source, he stated that explosive devices under Russian gas pipelines were planted in June 2022 under the cover of Baltops exercises by US Navy divers with the support of Norwegian specialists . According to Hersh, the operation was authorized by US President Joe Biden.

In early March, The New York Times reported intelligence that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the attack on Nord Stream, but its plans were not necessarily known to the Kyiv leadership. Then similar materials were published by several other major Western media.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the publications about the Ukrainian trace a coordinated stuffing into the press aimed at diverting attention. Vladimir Putin himself described this version as complete nonsense, noting that such sabotage could only be carried out by specialists with the technological support of any state.