Workers on the Balticconnector gas pipeline (archive photo) Photo: Lehtikuva/Mikko Stig/via REUTERS
From BZ/Reuters
According to the Finnish government, a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea and a telecommunications cable between Finland and Estonia were vandalized.
“It is very likely that the damage to both the pipeline and the cable was inflicted from the outside,” Finnish President Sauli Niinsto said on Tuesday.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the defense alliance was sharing information about the damage to the two lines and was ready to support all allies.
The Balticconnector gas pipeline was shut down on Sunday morning due to a leak. The Finnish operating company Gasgrid said it could take months to repair the damage.
An energy expert who did not want to be named told the Reuters news agency that the pressure in the pipeline had fallen comparatively quickly. This suggests that it is not a small hole. “But the cause is unclear.”
The 77-kilometer-long pipeline between Finland and Estonia runs through the Gulf of Finland, part of the Baltic Sea that extends into Russian territorial waters.