Brussels/Washington/Moscow: In the wake of what it claims to be apparent sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, NATO today said it is stepping up its military presence in the region “to send the message of deterrence, to collect and monitor and collect data and monitor the infrastructure, and then, share information, and step up resilience.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters today that these were the most important ways NATO and NATO Allies were now supporting each other to prevent anything similar to happen to any other critical energy infrastructure.
Stoltenberg said NATO and its Allies are present with naval capabilities, with planes in the Baltic Sea, in the North Sea – “And of course, this sends a message of Allies and NATO readiness to protect and defend each other, also critical infrastructure. These Allies, these capabilities, these planes, these ships are also collecting information, data, which can be helpful both for the ongoing investigation but also to monitor these critical energy infrastructures.”
Russia earlier stated on September 29, 2022, that it would like to believe that the international investigation into the underwater Baltic Sea pipeline incidents will be objective.
Stoltenberg today said the allies were stepping up their sharing of intelligence, sharing of information. MARCOM, their Maritime Command in Northwood was collecting a lot of this information, and they were reviewing some of the data that they already collected over the last weeks and months, “to see that when we looked through those data again, whether we were able to discover something connected to the attacks on the two pipelines in the Baltic Sea”.
According to him the move also highlights the importance of the work which is ongoing in NATO to strengthen the resilience, including the resilience of critical infrastructure.
Stoltenberg today met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as the National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan of the United States of America to discuss the “attacks” on the pipelines and the protection of critical infrastructure.
The NATO Secretary General disclosed that he and Scholz addressed the sabotage against Nordstream One and Nordstream Two.
NATO claims that the damage to the Nordstream 1 and Nordstream 2 pipelines in international waters in the Baltic Sea are acts of sabotage. It claimed that these leaks were causing risks to shipping and substantial environmental damage. While extending its support to the investigations underway to determine the origin of the damage, it stated on September 29, 2022, that the NATO allies would defend against the “coercive” use of energy and other hybrid tactics by state and non-state actors.
“This is very serious, big explosions destroying two pipelines,” Stoltenberg said today, stating that both he and Scholz support the efforts which are ongoing, efforts of investigation to reveal the facts and to determine who was behind these attacks.
Meanwhile in Washington, the Principal Deputy Spokesperson in the US State Department, Vedant Patel, said that the US was supporting European efforts to investigate the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline. While pointing out that these pipelines weren’t pumping natural gas into Europe at the time of sabotage, he mentioned that Nord Stream 1 had been shut down due to Russia’s weaponizing of energy, and Nord Stream 2 was never operational. “We are going to continue to work hand in hand with our European partners to get to the bottom of this, and I will also note we’re not going to let Russian disinformation distract us from Russia’s fraudulent attempt to annex sovereign Ukrainian territory either,” Patel said.
Responding to a query regarding the leaks on the Nord Stream Pipeline, Patel said he was not aware of any damage to transatlantic communication cables. “But again, we are in close touch with our European allies and partners about the apparent sabotage, and we are supporting European efforts to investigate this,” he said.
Russia though, indirectly hinted at the Americans sabotaging the pipelines. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sought an explanation from the US on American President Joe Biden’s reported statements made at a news conference on February 7, 2022, where he said “If Russia invades — that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it”.
Zakharova claimed in Moscow on September 29, 2022, that when “shocked” American journalists tried to ask clarifying questions, Bide answered: “I promise you we will be able to do it.” The Russian spokeswoman further referred to the US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland’s reported statement at the US State Department on January 27, 2022: “If Russia invades Ukraine, one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward… It is a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.”
“That was more than six months ago. But this “hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea” kept bothering them,” Zakharova said.
While noting that the United States has already denied its involvement through a Pentagon representative, she quipped: “But we know what they are capable of. She further pointed out that Radoslaw Sikorski (a vocal Americanophile, although still a Polish citizen) “actually said Poland had had motives for years to disable those pipelines”. She referred to a statement by the former foreign minister Sikorski, who is now a European Parliament member, where he said: “I am glad that Nord Stream, against which all Polish governments have been fighting for 20 years, is three-quarters paralysed. It’s good for Poland.”
Russia further claimed that disabling the pipelines would only allow the United States to increase LNG deliveries to the European Union. “This is not my assessment. It is the essence of the slogans, calls and theses of US officials, both Republicans and Democrats, which they have been working for the past years to implement. The United States never made it a secret that its main goal was to cut Europe off from Russian energy resources,” Zakharova said.
Russia had requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting on September 30, over the provocations against Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2. “There is one more interesting fact. We called for holding a meeting on September 29. Do you know who was against it? Who needed more time? Who decided to put off the meeting? It was NATO countries on the UN Security Council. They said they could only meet on September 30. We will demand an honest and objective investigation,” Zakharova said.
– global bihari bureau
