Moscow: According to a new report by Danish, Polish, and German scientists, the destruction of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines not only stopped the flow of Russian natural gas to western Europe but also killed and poisoned the already endangered fish and marine mammal species in the Baltic Sea.
Moscow has referred to the blowing up of two Nord Stream 1 pipes and one Nord Stream 2 pipe as an act of international terrorism in late September 2022. According to a study done by the Aarhus University in Denmark, the "four explosions" stirred up the nearby seabed, including the area where toxic waste had previously been dumped.
"This may indicate that fish who have been exposed to contaminants [like lead and TBT] will get sick. Hans Sanderson from the Department of Environmental Science at Aarhus told the Copenhagen Post on Monday that some of them will perish and some of them will have trouble reproducing.
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According to the researchers, the explosions may have stirred up a quarter million tonnes of contaminated seabed, or an area "twice the size" of the island of Bornholm. The populations of cod and porpoises in the Baltic Sea, which have nearby breeding grounds, have been put in danger by this.
All porpoises within 50 kilometres of the explosions may have lost their hearing, while those within 4 kilometres were "probably killed," according to the researchers.
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"It was truly located in the worst possible location. The fact that this occurred here, where nature is already completely destroyed, is tragic, according to Bo Oksnebjerg of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), who spoke to the Washington Post. He urged the governments of Sweden and Denmark to develop a "sea plan" to protect the Baltic from future mishaps.
Magnus Heunicke, the minister of the environment in Denmark, pledged that the country would "continually monitor and share the information with our neighbouring countries around the Baltic Sea, so that we have an overall picture of the consequences and can follow up to the relevant extent."
Despite repeated requests from Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany have refused to divulge any details regarding their investigations into the Nord Stream sabotage. Moscow requested last week that the UN launch an investigation into the act of global terrorism.
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American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote a piece earlier this month in which he accused the US and Norway of blowing up the pipelines. President Joe Biden threatened Nord Stream 2 in January, and numerous State Department officials spoke favourably about its destruction, despite the US government dismissing his claims as "completely false."