Denmark Drops Probe Into Nord Stream Gas Pipeline Sabotage

By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com

Denmark is dropping the investigation over what it described as a “deliberate sabotage” of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, due to insufficient grounds to pursue a criminal case, the Copenhagen police said on Monday.

Gas leaks in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were discovered at the end of September 2022 from the infrastructure just outside Swedish and Danish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.  

Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September of 2022, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.  

An investigation launched by the Swedish authorities concluded that the leaks were the result of detonations, likely the result of “serious sabotage”. 

But earlier this month, Sweden’s authorities concluded a preliminary investigation into the Nord Stream blasts but found they lacked jurisdiction to continue, as the incident occurred in international waters and involved no Swedish nationals. Therefore, Sweden ended the probe in early February.

Denmark also ended its investigation on Monday, with the Copenhagen police saying in a statement that “The joint investigation conducted by the Copenhagen Police and the Danish Security and Intelligence Services (PET) into the Nord Stream explosions has been concluded.”

Throughout the investigation, the Danish authorities have cooperated with relevant foreign partners, Denmark said.

“The investigation has led the authorities to conclude that there was deliberate sabotage of the gas pipelines. However, the assessment is that there is not the sufficient grounds to pursue a criminal case in Denmark,” the police said.

Apart from Denmark and Sweden, Germany has also investigated the Nord Stream blasts, but Berlin hasn’t concluded its own investigation into the sabotage. A spokesperson for the government told Reuters earlier in February that Germany was still interested in solving the case.