The video was published by the Swedish newspaper Expressen. shows a huge hole in the pipeline with pieces of metal destroyed by the explosion.
Images taken this Monday at a depth of about 80 meters from one of the four leak points show that more than 50 meters of the pipeline have been destroyed, according to Expressen.
“Only extreme force could twist such thick metal,” explains Trond Larsen, a drone pilot at the Norwegian agency Blue Eye Robotics, who is responsible for controlling the underwater device that captured the footage.
In addition, close to the pipeline “you can see a strong impact on the seabed,” writes the Swedish newspaper.
Two gas pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and 2, were damaged by at least two explosions in the waters of the Baltic Sea, resulting in four leaks.
After causing large releases of methane, they stopped releasing gas, according to the Swedish Coast Guard, and the last leak has not been seen on the surface since Friday.
The fourth leak is located in the northeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, above the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the Coast Guard said in a statement.
On 6 October, the Swedish authorities announced that they had carried out an on-site inspection of the submarine and obtained “evidence” supporting suspicions of possible sabotage. This hypothesis was confirmed by Denmark on Tuesday.
The Kremlin believes the investigation into the incidents is “rigged” to blame the bombings on Russia. “From the statements we have heard from Germany, France and Denmark, this investigation is organized to hold Russia accountable. This is absurd,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
Moscow accused Western countries of involvement in the bombings. Peskov said that “Russia will not blow up its own gas pipeline.”
“One can only regret that the entire investigation is being carried out in agreement with a very, very small group (…) without the participation of Russia, which is a co-owner of the gas pipeline,” Peskov complained.
Russia has launched its own investigation into the explosions, although it has not been able to investigate the scene. Russian investigators are “doing their job,” Peskov assured.
Germany, France and Denmark are conducting investigations at the national level, and it seems that the possibility of initiating international investigations at the request of Russia is not considered.
Gas pipelines operated by a consortium controlled by the Russian giant Gazprom from Russia to Germany stopped working because of the war in Ukraine, but were still filled with gas at the time of the explosions.
The use of such infrastructure lies at the heart of geopolitical tensions between Moscow and the West.
