Spain accuses Russia of sabotaging Nord Stream

Teresa Ribera, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge of Spain, has said that the recent incidents on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were obvious sabotage, which was done by Moscow.

“It seems to me that at the moment it is obvious that there cannot be three such cracks in two underwater gas pipelines, if there is no sabotage operation behind it,” she said, TASS reports.

She added that this is "a clear signal of how [Russian President Vladimir] Putin plays constant provocations".

Ribera stressed that in the current conditions Europe must remain strong.

According to the deputy prime minister, in recent months, against the backdrop of the situation around Ukraine and the energy crisis, "the least positive was the extremely unfavourable reasoning of the Hungarian government in relation to Moscow".

She also spoke in favour of introducing a ceiling on energy prices from Russia.

Ribera noted that it is impossible to return gas prices in the region of 20 or 30 euros per megawatt-hour, but it must be made clear that the margin for price improvement is significant, since “we are not ready to pay 200 and 300 euros, as now".

On September 26 night, a leak occurred on a section of the Nord Stream 2 line. Later, information appeared about a state of emergency in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark northeast of the island of Bornholm, where Nord Stream 1 passes. The project operator, Nord Stream AG, explained that the leakage of the gas pipeline was physically damaged.

The United States, in turn, also believes that the incidents may have been caused by sabotage operation.