In Great Britain, Russia is considered to be involved in the explosions on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. It was a planned operation with explosives.
The Times writes about this with reference to sources in British intelligence.
One of the most likely scenarios is considered to be that Russia secretly delivered an autonomous underwater vehicle with cargo to certain locations on the pipelines. According to the source, such drones could be dropped from a small vessel like a fishing boat several months ago.
"They could have been there for months, waiting to be allowed to explode," added the source of The Times. According to him, the explosion could be initiated, for example, with the help of a noise source of a certain frequency, which could be thrown into the water.
At the same time, the German Bild notes that Russiaʼs General Intelligence Directorate may be involved in such sabotage. In particular, it includes the 561st brigade of marines, which is considered a purely underwater sabotage unit. Fighters of this brigade are trained to arrange sabotage at a considerable depth, in particular with the help of underwater drones.
- On September 26, in one day, the Russians recorded a drop in pressure at once on two of their gas pipelines to Europe — on "North Stream" and "North Stream — 2", which were never put into operation. Both gas pipelines are almost not working and are not pumping gas from Russia to Europe. "North Stream — 2" was never launched due to the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, but "North Stream" was almost completely stopped in the summer allegedly due to problems found.
- Gas from Russian gas pipelines entered the Baltic Sea.
- The German newspaper Tagesspiegel reported with reference to a representative of the authorities that the damage to the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 probably occurred as a result of targeted attacks. The German government is considering two versions — the first, that the gas pipelines were damaged by Ukraine, and the second, that it was the work of Russia to accuse Ukraine of sabotage.
- Later, the Danish military showed a video of the gas leak, and seismologists said they recorded explosions. EU countries believe that Russian gas pipelines could have been sabotaged.