Germany on Nord Stream: “We have no reason to believe that the damage to the pipelines is due to natural causes”

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The German government spokesman assured that the damage to the pipelines has no effect on the country’s natural gas supply

Germany insists that the damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that resulted in leaks in the international waters of the Baltic Sea did not come from natural causes.

“We have no reason to believe that the pipeline problem is due to natural causes,” a government spokesman said recently. Stephen Hempstreit, however, he refused to comment on information about a relevant warning from secret services of other countries. It is recalled that according to the German Spiegel, the CIA had warned the German government since the summer of possible damage to the pipeline.

Mr Hebstreit assured, however, that the damage to the pipelines has no effect on Germany’s natural gas supply, as the flow from Nord Stream 1 has been stopped for weeks, while Nord Stream 2 has never been operational. As far as they are concerned investigations about the incident and possible consequences, the government spokesman noted that Berlin is in constant coordination with its NATO and EU partners.

It has already been established in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs crisis management team on the issue, while guarding has been intensified in German territorial waters and the respective states have been requested to intensify the guarding of the coastal areas in the North and Baltic Seas. According to the newspaper Tagesspiegel, the government’s concern mainly concerns the protection of the liquefied natural gas terminals which are being built in the same area, but also of the submarine telecommunications cables.

“The circumstances of this disturbing event must be quickly clarified and those responsible identified. The alleged act of sabotage on our pipelines shows once again how dependent we are on critical infrastructure – including water,” said the Minister of Defense Christine Lambrecht, which earlier today was in telephone contact with the Swedish government, in order to offer the assistance of the German Navy in the investigations.

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