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Nord Stream pipeline leaks ‘most likely an act by Russia’: Polish PM

06.10.2022 21:00
Poland’s prime minister has said that last week’s leaks in the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream gas pipelines were “most likely an act by Russia.”
Mateusz Morawiecki.
Mateusz Morawiecki.PAP/EPA/Martin Divisek

Mateusz Morawiecki made the claim at a media briefing in Prague, the Czech Republic, on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

The Polish prime minister arrived in the Czech capital shortly beforehand for two days of talks with fellow European leaders amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, rising inflation and energy challenges, officials told reporters. 

Meeting the media in Prague, Morawiecki was asked about the possible causes of the mysterious leaks in the undersea Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

The Polish prime minister said: “According to the information we are receiving, including from our foreign friends, it was most likely an act by Russia ...” 

He added that Moscow had recently suggested that “if Nord Stream 2 is opened, then gas will flow” to Europe. 

“This just serves to confirm the thesis, the supposition, that it was the work of Russian [security] services,” Morawiecki stated.

Germany cancelled the approval procedure for Nord Stream 2 just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February. The pipeline had been completed and filled with gas, but was awaiting certification, news outlets reported.

The Polish prime minister told reporters on Thursday: “The European Union must stand united in the fight against Russian blackmail and in the fight against the flaws in European Commission’s policy, with which we are dealing today.”

The ruptures in the Nord Stream pipelines were first reported on September 26. Denmark’s energy agency has confirmed two leaks in Nord Stream 1, to the northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, and one leak in Nord Stream 2, to the southeast of Bornholm, the PAP news agency reported.

Thursday was day 225 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(pm/gs)

Source: PAP, energetyka24.com