The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) warned Germany several weeks ago of possible attacks on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, German magazine Spiegel reported on Tuesday, after gas leaks from the Nord Stream 1. and 2 gas pipelines were reported, Reuters reported.

Satellite image of the gas leak from Nord Stream 2 in the Baltic SeaPhoto: Handout / AFP / Profimedia

The German government was tipped off by the CIA in the summer, Spiegel reported, citing unnamed sources, adding that Berlin had suggested a targeted attack on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.

A German government spokesman declined to comment, Spiegel added.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Tuesday that two explosions linked to leaks from the Nord Stream gas pipeline had been detected, and that intelligence suggested a possible sabotage, although it was not an attack on Sweden.

Andersson told a news conference that the Swedish government is in close communication with partners such as NATO and neighbors such as Denmark and Germany regarding developments.

  • VIDEO What a natural gas leak from the Nord Stream gas pipeline looks like on the surface of the Baltic Sea / Carpets of bubbles from 200 meters to a kilometer

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, in turn, said that the leaks found in the Baltic Sea from the Nord Stream gas pipelines were clearly caused by deliberate actions and could not be the result of accidents.

“The authorities now clearly assess that these were deliberate actions. It was not an accident,” Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference in Copenhagen.

“So far, there is no information that would indicate who could be behind this action,” she said, adding that authorities do not see the incidents as a direct military threat to Denmark.

Sweden has launched a preliminary investigation into possible sabotage.

“We drew up a protocol and qualified the crime as serious sabotage,” said the spokesman of the national police.

The spill, first reported on Monday, was in international waters but in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark and Sweden.

Ulrich Lisseck, a spokesman for the Nord Stream 2 project, explained that in the area of ​​Bornholm the gas pipelines are at a depth of about 70 meters and are laid in such a way that it is very unlikely that more lines will be laid. be damaged at the same time, for example, after the accident of one ship.

Asked if he knew of any similar incidents involving offshore pipelines, he said: “I’ve never heard of anything like this.”