Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP) prepared to brief the media about damage that was detected last weekend in a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia in Helsinki on Tuesday, 10 October 2023. Orpo confirmed that the damage appears likely to have been caused deliberately. (Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva)
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THE APPARENT SABOTAGE of Balticconnector, an underwater gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia, should be investigated as rapidly as possible, views Jukka Savolainen, a director at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats.
“That’s a way to fend off the incredulous rumours that are probably coming. We have an adversary who knows how to make up stories that’ll muddle the whole thing quickly,” he said on YLE A-studio on Tuesday.
Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, stressed that it is crucial to publish whatever is found at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
“The idea that we’d conduct an ordinary criminal investigation and lay out the facts during court proceedings would open the door to Russia and other propagandists. We can’t wait for the whole package, but we should publish one piece of evidence at a time,” he argued on the topical affairs show.
Savolainen identified Nord Stream as a cautionary example, saying the cause of the explosions that made holes in the pipelines remains unknown and remains subject to speculation.
“The narratives that [the incident] triggered and that have resonated with the public align with Russia’s interests. Nord Stream is such a major issue that it can create disagreements between the US and Ukraine,” he said.
Adopted in December 2019, Balticconnector has the capacity to transport 7.2 million cubic metres of gas a day. Although repairing the hole detected last weekend and recommissioning the pipeline will take months, the disruption is not expected to de-stabilise the natural gas system of Finland, according to Gasgrid.
The National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) stated yesterday that it is possible that the pipeline was damaged deliberately, an assessment that was echoed by both President Sauli Niinistö and Prime Minister Petteri Orpo (NCP).
“According to the provisional estimate, the detected damage couldn’t have been caused by ordinary use or variation in pressure. It’s probable that the leak is the consequence of external activity,” Orpo stated at an extraordinary press conference in Helsinki on Tuesday.
Over the weekend, damage was detected also in a data cable between Finland and Estonia.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
