NO WAY BACK FOR EUROPE

On the night of September 26, significant gas leaks took place in the Nord Stream–2 gas pipeline and on both lines of the Nord Stream–1. Damage to three pipelines at the same time is supposed to be the result of a sabotage attack. On September 28, the Swedish Foreign Ministry confirmed that the damage was caused by explosions. It is reasonably suspected that the pipeline was blown up by the special services of the United States in order to finally stop the gas supplies to Germany from Russia. On September 27, a detachment of warships led by the US amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge reported on the completion of their tasks in the area of the alleged sabotage in the Baltic Sea and headed for the North Sea. Since the beginning of September, suspicious activity by anti-submarine helicopters of the US Navy has been observed in the area. In the last few days, reconnaissance activities of NATO aircraft have significantly intensified in the Baltic Sea area. In particular, a US Boeing E-3 Sentry reconnaissance aircraft was on constant patrol over the Baltic States, and a US Joint STARS was spotted over Germany and Poland. The valves of Russian gas pipelines are being tightened one by one, exacerbating the crisis in Europe. Despite the fact that neither Nord Stream nor Nord Stream-2 were supplying gas to Europe, November gas futures have already jumped by 9%. Earlier, Poland imposed sanctions and closed the Yamal—Europe gas pipeline. Justifying the decision for political reasons, Warsaw attempted to gain economic benefits. Poland bought Russian gas from Germany at a slightly cheaper price. Transit of Russian gas through Ukraine is also under threat. On September 27, Gazprom threatened the Ukrainian state gas campaign Naftogaz with sanctions in response to the attempts to put forward legal claims against Gazprom. The imposition of sanctions may halt gas transit through Ukraine. Immediately after the explosions rocked the Northern Stream pipelines, a symbolic ceremony of launching the Baltic Pipe gas pipeline took place in Poland. The pipeline connects fields on the Norwegian shelf in the North Sea with Poland via Denmark. The valve was turned by Polish and Danish authorities, with loud claims that the era of Russian dominance in the gas industry is coming to an end. From 2023, the throughput capacity of the Baltic Pipe should be 10 billion cubic meters of gas per year. For comparison, the actual capacity of Nord Stream-1 alone was more than 58 billion cubic meters per year. The terrorist attack on the Nord Stream may be the first direct use of the US and British armed forces against the Russian infrastructure. The obvious purpose of the sabotage is the internationalization of the military conflict. The main beneficiary is the United States. The attack on Russian gas pipelines binds the EU to American LNG supplies. Europe remains the main victim.