According to Lund, one of the explosions had a magnitude of 2.3 on the Richter scale, and was recorded at 30 measuring stations in southern Sweden…reports Asian Lite News
Seismologists registered explosions near the Nord Stream pipelines in the last 36 hours, a media outlet reported, citing Swedish national broadcaster SVT.
SVT can reveal that measuring stations in both Sweden and Denmark registered strong underwater explosions in the same area as the gas leaks on Monday, The Gurdian reported.
“There is no doubt that these are explosions,” Bjorn Lund, lecturer in seismology at the Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN), was quoted as saying by SVT.
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The first explosion was recorded at 2.03 a.m. on the night of Monday and the second at 7.04 p.m. on Monday evening.
The warnings about the gas leaks came from the maritime administration at 1.52 p.m. and 8.41 p.m. on Monday, respectively, after ships detected bubbles on the surface.
SVT has obtained the coordinates of the measured explosions and they are in the same area where the gas leaks were registered, The Guardian reported.
The apparent leaks in the Nord Stream pipeline are both near the island of Bornholm, which belongs to Denmark in the Baltic sea.
Seismologist Bjorn Lund was quoted as saying that the area where they detected explosions is not an area usually used for military drills. He told SVT: “We usually get information about explosions that take place underwater, but sometimes we don’t get it. In this case, we have not received any information.”
According to Lund, one of the explosions had a magnitude of 2.3 on the Richter scale, and was recorded at 30 measuring stations in southern Sweden.
Prior to the reports from the seismologists, there had already been speculation about possible sabotage, as the pipeline operator had described three lines suffering significant damage within the space of a day as “unprecedented”.
Ukrainian presidential adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, has described the major leaks in two Russian gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea as a “terrorist attack”.
CIA warned about attack weeks ago
The CIA warned weeks ago that the Nord Stream pipes could be attacked, it has been revealed, after explosions opened three huge fissures in two key gas links that Western leaders say are the result of sabotage, the media reported.
Agents sent a ‘strategic warning’ to European allies including Germany over the summer that the pipes were at risk, sources told Der Spiegel last night, though they refused to say whether Russia was identified as a culprit.
The warning was not specific and did not pinpoint a time or location for an attack, according to the New York Times.
However, heavy suspicion for the attack has fallen on the Kremlin – with European officials briefing the Washington Post last night that ‘no-one is thinking this is anything other than Russian sabotage’. But allies currently lack enough hard evidence to publicly blame Moscow, they added.
But Moscow certainly has the capacity to carry out such an attack. It possesses the largest spy submarine fleet in the world including the Belgorod – a nuclear-powered sub which is designed to attack undersea infrastructure – and has ploughed money into underwater drones that could have been used. The location of the blasts, in waters around 260 ft deep, is also shallow enough for divers to reach, Daily Mail reported.
As for motive, the explosions came on the same day that Poland, Norway and Denmark opened a new pipe running under the Baltic. As one official said last night, it could be designed as a warning to Europe that its infrastructure is vulnerable.
Stepan Stepanenko, research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society said, “At first glance, this act equates to cutting one’s nose off to spite the face (but) to understand why Russia would do this, we have to look at it in the context of the sham referenda taking place in Ukraine.
“Putin is fast running out of options, he needs to end the conflict with a tangible territorial gain before Russians twig what the rest of the world already knows: He lost the war.”
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