COPENHAGEN, Denmark – The Danish Energy Agency says one in two ruptured natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea appears to have stopped leaking natural gas.
The agency said on Twitter on Saturday that it had been informed by the company that operates the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that pressure in the pipeline, which runs from Russia to Germany, appears to have stabilized.
“This indicates that gas leaks in this pipeline have stopped,” the Danish Energy Agency said.
Underwater explosions that damaged the Nord Stream I and 2 pipelines this week have resulted in huge methane leaks. Nordic investigators said several hundred pounds of explosives were involved in the blasts.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of sabotaging Russian-built pipelines, an accusation vehemently denied by the United States and its allies.
Clashes between the US and Russia later continued at an emergency UN Security Council meeting in New York called by Russia over the pipeline attacks, and when Norwegian researchers released a map predicting a huge methane plume was pouring out of the damaged pipelines will flow across large swaths of the Nordic region.
On Friday in Moscow, Putin claimed that the “Anglo-Saxons” in the West had gone from imposing sanctions on Russia to “terrorist attacks” and sabotaging the pipelines, in what he described as an attempt to “destroy Europe’s energy infrastructure.”
In Washington, US President Joe Biden dismissed Putin’s pipeline claims as outlandish.
“It was a deliberate act of sabotage. And now the Russians are spreading disinformation and lies. We will work with our allies to find out exactly what happened,” Biden promised. “Just don’t listen to what Putin says. We know what he says is not true.”
US officials said the Putin claim was trying to divert attention from his annexation of parts of Ukraine on Friday.
“We will not allow Russia’s disinformation to distract us or the world from its patently fraudulent attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Friday.
The European nations that have suffered from soaring energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have found that it is Russia, not Europe, that is benefiting from the chaos in energy markets and soaring energy prices.
The US has long opposed the two pipelines, repeatedly urging Germany to stop them, saying they would have increased Europe’s energy dependency on Russia and reduced its security. Since the war in Ukraine began in February, Russia has cut back supplies of natural gas, which is sent to Europe to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories. European leaders have accused Putin of using “energy blackmail” to divide them over their strong support for Ukraine.
The attacks on the pipelines have prompted energy companies and European governments to tighten security around energy infrastructure.
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