MOSCOW: At least 50 meters of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline have been destroyed or submerged, following an explosion that was likely caused by sabotage, according to underwater images released on Tuesday.
"The damage was caused by powerful explosions," Danish police said after inspecting pipelines 1 and 2 in the Danish Economic Zone of the Baltic Sea.
In a video published by Swedish newspaper Expressen, a large tear and bent metal can be seen on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which is 80 meters below the surface of the Baltic Sea.
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According to Expression, videos captured on Monday demonstrate how more than 50 meters (165 ft) of pipeline is either missing or buried under the seabed, and long tears can be seen on the seabed before the burst pipe. Huh.
According to Trond Larsson, a drone operator at the Norwegian company Blueeye Robotics, "only an extreme force can bend metal the way we're seeing."
According to Larsen, who operates the submersible drone that took the video, you can also see "a huge impact on the ocean floor around the pipe."
Eruptions under the Baltic Sea in late September damaged two Nord Stream pipelines, resulting in four leaks. The leaks occurred in international waters, but two of them occurred in the EEZ of Denmark and two of them in Sweden.
On 6 October, Swedish authorities announced that they had inspected the site underwater, collecting "pieces of evidence" and that the inspection supported their suspicion of possible sabotage.
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Danish police and intelligence agency PET said on Tuesday that they had completed several inspections of leaks in Danish territory.
In a statement, he said the inspection revealed significant damage to Nord Streams 1 and 2 in the Danish Exclusive Economic Zone, which was caused by powerful explosions.
Danish police said a joint investigation team would be formed with PET to investigate, but it was too early to say whether Sweden and Germany could participate in international cooperation.
Geopolitical tensions have centered on pipelines connecting Russia and Germany as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe, perceived as retaliation for Western sanctions on Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
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They were apparently not in use even though there was gas in the pipelines before the sabotage.