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NORD STREAM

Denmark could be bypassed by Russia’s Nord Stream 2 pipeline

Russian energy giant Gazprom said Wednesday its controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline set to supply Europe could bypass Danish waters if Copenhagen continues to withhold permission.

Published: 2 October 2019 16:18 CEST
Denmark could be bypassed by Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline
Pipes for Nord Stream on board a pipe laying ship in the Baltic Sea. Photo: Stine Jacobsen/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

The almost-completed project's final major hurdle is obtaining an agreement from Denmark that the Baltic Sea pipeline can cross its exclusive economic zone, which is outside its territorial waters.

“If they don't approve it… we will go around Denmark's economic zone,” Gazprom chairman Viktor Zubkov said at a Moscow energy forum, quoted by TASS news agency.

If Denmark withholds permission, the project “will be more costly and will take longer,” he said, criticising Copenhagen's stance since the pipeline will provide “gas for Europe.”

The building of the pipeline has sparked concerns about Western Europe's increasing dependence on Russian gas.

It has also raised fears that Moscow will be able to increase pressure on Ukraine as Europe will be less reliant on the country for transiting supplies.

Its proponents — led by Germany, the EU's biggest economy — say the pipeline will provide reliable supplies at an acceptable price.

Gazprom had said in a statement on Tuesday that the pipeline is 83 percent complete, with more than 2,000 kilometres laid.

“We have practically reached… Denmark's economic zone,” Zubkov said, adding that if Copenhagen gives the green light, the project could be completed in “four to five weeks.”

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak at the same forum said he was still counting on Denmark granting approval.

“We don't see any basis not to give such a permit,” he said.

Half of the 9.5-billion-euro ($10.6-billion) project is financed by Gazprom, with the rest covered by its European partners: Germany's Wintershall and Uniper, Anglo-Dutch Shell, France's Engie and Austria's OMV.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to hit Nord Stream 2 and those tied to it with sanctions, saying it makes Germany “a hostage to Russia.”

READ ALSO: Danish Nord Stream delay 'could cost €660m'

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NORD STREAM

Nord Stream: Investigators link Ukrainian-owned yacht to sabotage, reports claim

German investigators have identified the boat they believe was used in the sabotage attack on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, according to a report in the Die Zeit newspaper, based on a joint investigation with the broadcasters ARD and SWR. 

Published: 8 March 2023 08:33 CET
Nord Stream: Investigators link Ukrainian-owned yacht to sabotage, reports claim

According to the report, a group of five men and one woman rented the yacht from a Polish-based company with Ukrainian owners. The group all used false passports and their true nationalities are unknown.

Traces of explosives have been found on the yacht, which set sail from the German city of Rostock on September 6th, 20 days before the explosions, which destroyed the two pipelines at a point off the coast of Sweden and just south of the Danish island of Bornholm. 

“The traces lead in the direction of Ukraine,” Die Zeit wrote in its article. “However, investigators have not yet found any evidence as to who ordered the destruction.” 

The newspaper said that, “according to its information”, a western intelligence service had already tipped off its European partners in the autumn that a Ukrainian commando unit had been responsible for the attack, after which there had been “further intelligence indications that a pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the attack. 

In a separate report, the New York Times newspaper reported that US officials had seen new intelligence indicating a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the sabotage.

The Times report said US officials had no evidence implicating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the pipeline bombing, and it did not identify the source of the intelligence or the group involved.

The attack, the newspaper said, benefitted Ukraine by severely damaging Russia’s ability to reap millions of dollars by selling natural gas to Western Europe. The intelligence suggested that the perpetrators behind the sabotage were “opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia”, the Times report said.

When confronted with the reports, Ukraine denied any involvement.

The country’s presidential adviser Mychajlo Podoljak told ARD that Ukraine “of course had nothing to do with the attacks on Nord Stream-2”. There was, he said, “no confirmation that Ukrainian officials or the military took part in this operation or that people were dispatched to act on their behalf.”

It was still conceivable that Russia was behind it, he said. “There are many more motives and many more uses in this scenario.” 

He later tweeted that Ukraine “has nothing to do with the Baltic Sea mishap”. 

Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson for Russian president Vladimir Putin, claimed the reports had been fabricated by the true “authors of the attack” as a diversion. 

“How can American officials assume anything without an investigation?” he told the Ria news agency, complaining that Russia was not part of the investigation of this “monstrous crime”.

The Russian embassy in the US blamed the reports on US intelligence services, which it accused of “an attempt to confuse anyone who sincerely wishes to seek out the truth in this flagrant crime”

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