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Nord Stream gas leak investigation

Denmark invites Nord Stream operator to lift object discovered near pipeline

The country's energy agency is awaiting a response from Nord Stream 2 AG

Danish Coast Guard Asmus Koefoed/Shutterstock/Fotodom

Danish Coast Guard

© Asmus Koefoed/Shutterstock/Fotodom

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. The Danish Energy Agency said it had invited the operator of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to participate in the effort to lift from the seabed an unknown object discovered near the pipe.

"With a view to further clarifying the nature of the object, Danish authorities have decided to salvage the object with assistance from the Danish Defence. The Danish Energy Agency has in that context invited the owner of the pipeline, Nord Stream 2 AG, to participate in the operation," the agency said in a press statement.

The Danish Energy Agency said it was waiting for a response from Nord Stream 2 AG before the operation is commenced.

A Gazprom ship has found evidence that could mean there’s another explosive device on a Nord Stream pipeline 30 kilometers from the site of the past terrorist attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 14.

Putin said in the interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin that Gazprom had earlier received permission from Denmark to examine the site of the explosion at the Nord Stream undersea natural gas pipeline, but the ship that the company hired went further along the pipeline. "And at a distance of about 30 kilometers from the site of the explosion, a little stake was found, which was placed at a location that’s similar to where the blast took place," Putin said, explaining that he was referring to pipe junctions, the most vulnerable spots of any gas pipeline.

Specialists believe it might be an antenna to receive a signal to detonate an explosive device that could have been planted under the pipeline system. According to the Russian president, "it appears that several explosive devices were planted" along the Nord Stream. "Some of them went off, and some didn’t. The reasons are unclear," Putin added.

On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that occurred the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines. On September 26, 2022, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on the pipeline routes. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal case based on charges of international terrorism.

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Denmark Nord Stream gas leak investigation

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