The Swedish coast guard has discovered a fourth leak on the damaged Nord Stream pipelines, Svenska Dagbladet newspaper reported on Wednesday. Till now, three leaks were already found by the experts on the pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany and this leak was reportedly found on Nord Stream 2.
“Two of these four are in Sweden’s exclusive economic zone,” coast guard spokesperson Jenny Larsson told the newspaper on Wednesday. The other two leaks were in the Danish exclusive economic zone.
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“The fourth leak was on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, in close proximity to a larger hole found on the nearby Nord Stream 1”, the Swedish coast guard said according to Reuters.
The European leaders have already suggested that the reason behind the leaks can be sabotage – a claim that found support from even Russia. The leaders have already launched an investigation into the matter and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen described the leaks as “deliberate acts”.
With the ongoing conflict in Ukraine getting intense by the day, a number of countries hinted at a possible ploy by Russia to weaponise the gas supply once again by causing disruption to the pipelines.
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However, the Russian prosecutor’s office told the Interfax news agency that they have launched their own “international terrorism” probe into the incident, and they will be cooperating with other nations.
Russia halted flows on the 1,224-kilometre (760-mile) Nord Stream 1 pipeline following the invasion of Ukraine, while Germany prevented them from ever starting in the parallel Nord Stream 2.
