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Denmark clears way for Russian gas pipeline

Denmark has granted Russia's Nord Stream 2 project a permit to build a section of the natural gas pipeline on the Danish continental shelf in the Baltic Sea.

Published: 31 October 2019 14:06 CET
Denmark clears way for Russian gas pipeline
Nord Stream 2 pipeline being laid in the Baltic Sea. Photo: Stine Jacobsen/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

“The Danish Energy Agency has granted a permit to Nord Stream 2 AG to construct a section of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines on the Danish continental shelf southeast of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea,” the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The pipeline being constructed under the Baltic Sea by Russia's Gazprom energy giant is nearly complete, but had not previously been granted permission to cross Denmark's exclusive economic zone.

The Danish Energy Agency noted in its statement that Denmark “is obliged to allow the construction of transit pipelines” under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Dan Jørgensen, Denmark's energy and climate minister, also told a press briefing of foreign journalists that it was “a purely administrative decision.”

“We are pleased to have obtained Denmark's consent to construct the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline through the Danish continental shelf area in the Baltic Sea south-east of Bornholm,” Samira Kiefer Andersson, Permitting Manager for Denmark at Nord Stream 2, said in a statement.

The statement added that “preparatory works, such as the installation of concrete mattresses and rock placement… and the subsequent pipelay” would start in the coming weeks.

The Danish permit covers a 147-kilometre-long stretch of the pipeline, which will directly connect Russia to Germany, and, according to the Nord Stream 2 consortium, over 2,100 kilometres of pipeline has already been completed.

Pipelaying has been completed in Russian, Finnish and Swedish waters, and “for the most part in German waters.”

In early October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that even if Denmark were to block the pipeline the project would still be completed, but would be re-routed.

The Baltic energy link will double the capacity to ship gas between Russia and Germany, sparking 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.

US Energy Secretary Rick Perry warned during a recent visit to Lithuania that the pipeline “would increase Russia's leverage over Europe's foreign policy”.

Perry added that the Nord Stream 2, together the TurkStream pipeline — which will supply Russian gas to Turkey via the Black Sea — “would enable Moscow to end gas transit through Ukraine by the close of the decade.”

US President Donald Trump has also said it makes Germany “a hostage to Russia,” and threatened the project and those tied to it with sanctions.

Nord Stream 2's proponents — led by Germany, the EU's biggest economy — say the pipeline will provide reliable supplies at an acceptable price.

Following the Danish announcement on Wednesday, shares in Gazprom rose by more than four percent on the Moscow stock exchange, hitting their highest levels since 2008.

Nord Stream 2 is scheduled to enter into service towards the end of 2019.

READ ALSO: Sweden's rejection of Russian pipeline brings Danes to table

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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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