LONDON, April 17. /TASS/. Hearings into the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines began on Thursday at London's High Court, a TASS correspondent learned at the judicial body.
Switzerland-based Nord Stream company that operated the pipelines argues that it is entitled to an indemnity of 580 million euros. The process, presided by Judge Clare Moulder, is expected to take approximately five weeks.
The court is not planning to determine who exactly blew up the pipelines, and the hearings will focus on whether insurance payments should be made. The insurer, Lloyd’s of London, insists that the pipelines were blown up either upon instructions from a national government (Russia, the United States, or Ukrane), or sub-state actors from Ukraine as a result of a military conflict between Moscow and Kiev, and, therefore, no insurance payments should be made.
Nord Stream argues that the pipelines were outside the conflict zone, were not a military site, and the sabotage was not aimed at achieving military goals of any party to the conflict.
The explosions on September 26, 2022, caused unprecedented damage to three lines of the Nord Stream and the yet-to-be-commissioned Nord Stream 2. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a case, citing acts of international terrorism.