Baltic Gas Pipeline Leak: Finland Blames 'Outside Activity' for Crisis

(Photo : Ludovic MARIN / AFP) (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said that the Baltic gas pipeline leak was caused by "outside activity" in a deliberate act that damaged the structure as well as a telecommunications cable.

Finland is blaming "outside activity" and a deliberate act for the Baltic gas pipeline leak after an incident that damaged the structure and a telecommunications cable connecting the country to Estonia.

The remarks on Tuesday came as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the global military alliance would share information related to the damage and is ready to support its allies. Finland joined NATO in April after stalled negotiations with Turkey, and Estonia joined the alliance in 2004.

Baltic Gas Pipeline Leak

On Sunday, officials decided to shut the Balticconnector gas pipeline early over concerns that gas leaked from a hole in the 77-kilometer-long pipeline. In a statement, Finnish operator Gasgrid said it would take several months or more to repair the damage to the structure.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in a Tuesday statement that it was likely that the damage to both the pipeline and the telecommunications cable was the result of outside activity. He added that the cause of the damage was not yet clear as an investigation continues in cooperation between Finland and Estonia, as per Reuters.

Additionally, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said that the damage to the gas pipeline was "worrying" but noted that the country's energy supply remains stable. He also said that the damage to the telecommunications cable did not affect the nation's overall connectivity.

During a press conference, Orpo said that it was still too early to conclude who or what caused the damage to the pipeline and the telecommunications cable. He added that gas accounts for roughly 5% of Finland's energy supply.

Elisa, a Finnish telecommunications operator responsible for operating the damaged cable, said that the distance from the cable to the Balticconnector pipeline was "significant" but declined to comment on the exact length between the two.

Possibility of a Sabotage

There were also reports from local media that cited unnamed government sources who claimed that Russian sabotage was suspected of the incident. According to The Guardian, this comes as regional security experts said that a Russian survey vessel was recently spotted making repeated visits to the vicinity of the Balticconnector pipeline.

Orpo added that based on observations of the damage, they could not have resulted from normal use of the pipeline or pressure fluctuations. When asked directly about the possibility of Russia's involvement, the prime minister said that he did not want to speculate on potential perpetrators before a complete investigation has concluded.

The situation comes as European countries have been exceptionally sensitive to the possibility of sabotage since the explosions that blew up the Nord Stream pipelines between Russia and Germany occurred just a little over a year ago.

At the time, seismologists detected two distinct blasts, compared to recent times when experts did not measure any unusual activity near the Finnish pipeline. The research director at the University of Helsinkin's Institute of Seismology, Timo Tiira, said that they did not detect any signals of an explosion, said the Washington Post.