Nord Stream pipelines sabotage

On 26 September 2022, a series of underwater explosions and consequent gas leaks occurred on 3 of 4 Nord Stream pipes, rendering them inoperable. The Nord Stream 1 (NS1) and Nord Stream 2 (NS2) are two of twenty-three natural gas pipelines between Europe and Russia. The leaks were located in international waters, but within the economic zones of Denmark and Sweden. Both pipelines were built to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea, and are majority owned by the Russian majority state-owned gas company, Gazprom. Before the leaks, the pipelines were filled with natural gas but were not transporting it as a consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The leaks occurred one day before Poland and Norway opened the Baltic Pipe running through Denmark, bringing in gas from the North Sea, rather than from Russia as the Nord Stream pipelines do. Russia asked for an international investigation at the UN Security Council which was rejected with 3 votes in favor out of 15. Denmark, Germany and Sweden each initiated separate investigations, describing the explosions as sabotage. The Swedish and Danish investigations were closed in February 2024 without identifying those responsible, while the German investigation was ongoing. On 21 August 2025, the Italian police arrested a Ukrainian man on suspicion of being involved in the sabotage, following European arrest warrants issued by German authorities and on 30 September near Warsaw Polish police arrested another Ukrainian, who had evaded arrest since August 2024. As of September 2025 the German investigation reportedly had identified seven suspects including former members of a private diving school in Kyiv, one of whom has died. In October 2025 the suspect arrested in Poland was released when a Polish court denied the German extradition request. In July 2026, London's High Court ruled against a 579 million Euro insurance claim for the Nord Stream Pipeline reasoning that a war exclusion clause applied with the Russo-Ukrainian war being a significant cause for the sabotage and that a government was behind the sabotage even if no specific perpetrator could be identified.

Background

In 2021, Russia supplied roughly 45% of the natural gas imported by European Union states. The United States has been a major opponent of the Nord Stream pipelines; former US President Donald Trump said in 2019 that Nord Stream 2 could turn Europe into a "hostage of Russia" and placed sanctions on any company assisting Russia to complete the pipeline. In December 2020, then President-elect Joe Biden came out forcefully against the opening of the new pipeline and the impact this would have on potential Russian influence. In 2021, the Biden administration lifted the sanctions, stating that while it was "unwavering" in opposition to Nord Stream 2, removing the sanctions was a matter of national interest, to maintain positive relations with Germany and other US allies in Europe. The second pipeline was completed in September 2021. On 7 February 2022 in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US President Joe Biden said that "we will bring an end to it [Nord Stream]" if Russia invades Ukraine and reemphasised with a promise to do it when asked how, delivering on that promise two days before Russia's 24 February invasion when Germany suspended certification. Before being sabotaged neither of the Nord Stream pipelines were delivering gas. Nord Stream 2 had been completed in 2021, but had not entered service because Germany had suspended its certification on 22 February 2022 thereby stopping the project, following official recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic by the Russian State Duma and President Putin during the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. From 31 August 2022, Gazprom had halted delivery via Nord Stream 1 indefinitely, officially because of maintenance. Both Nord Stream 1 and 2 were however pressurized with gas. The Nord Stream 2 pipeline contained the equivalent of an estimated 150 million cubic metres (5.3 billion cubic feet) to 300 million cubic metres (11 billion cubic feet) of gas, pressurized to over 100 bar, at the time of the explosions. An environmental impact assessment of NS2 was made in 2019. By 2012, corrosion leaks had only occurred in two large pipelines worldwide. Leaks due to military-type acts and mishaps were considered "very unlikely". The largest leak in the analysis was defined as a "full-bore rupture (>80 mm [3.1 in])", for example from a sinking ship hitting the pipeline. Such an unlikely large leak from 54 metres (177 ft) water depth could result in a gas plume up to 15 metres (49 ft) wide at the surface. For NS2, the pipes have an outer diameter of approximately 1,200 millimetres (48 inches) and a steel wall thickness of 27–41 millimetres (1.1–1.6 in) – thickest at the pipe ingress where operating pressure is 22 megapascals (220 bar) and thinnest at the pipe egress where operating pressure is 17.7 megapascals (177 bar), when transporting gas. To weigh down the pipe (to ensure negative buoyancy), a 60–110-millimetre (2.4–4.3 in) layer of concrete surrounds the steel. Each line of the pipeline was made of about 100,000 concrete-weight coated steel pipes each weighing 24 tonnes (53,000 lb) welded together and laid on the seabed. To facilitate pigging, the pipelines have a constant internal diameter of 1,153 millimetres (45.4 in), according to Nord Stream. Sections lie at a depth of around 80–110 metres (260–360 ft).

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