BRUSSELS, September 30 – Novosti. Ships and aircraft of NATO countries are present in the Baltic Sea, including collecting information to help investigate sabotage on the Nord Stream, NATO Secretary General Jens Stolteneberg said in a press statement in Brussels.
“There were powerful explosions that led to the destruction of two pipelines. We support efforts to investigate, establish the facts, determine the culprit in these attacks … NATO ships and aircraft are present in the Baltic and North Seas . This sends a signal of the Allies’ readiness to protect each other and their critical infrastructure “These ships and planes also collect information and data that can be useful for an investigation. They also allow monitoring of critical infrastructure,” he said.
The Russian side officially requested information from Denmark about the emergency at Nord Stream as soon as the incident became known. The Danish authorities notified the Russian Federation about the explosions at the site of the gas leak. The operator of Nord Stream, Nord Stream AG, reported that the emergency on gas pipelines was unprecedented, and it was impossible to estimate the timing of repairs.
The work of Nord Stream has been suspended since the end of August due to problems with the repair of Siemens turbines caused by Western sanctions. However, the pipeline remained filled with gas. Nord Stream 2 , completed in 2021 but never put into operation, was also already filled with gas.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation initiated the initiation of a case on an act of international terrorism after the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that NATO conducted exercises using deep-sea equipment in the area where the Nord Stream incidents occurred. The press secretary of the Russian President stated that CNN’s statements about Russian ships and submarines allegedly seen in the area of the accident on the Nord Stream strings in the Baltic Sea are stupid and biased, more NATO ships and aircraft were noticed there.
