External activity

Finnish pipeline leak points to ‘external activity,’ president says

The Balticconnector pipeline suffered an “unusual” drop in pressure over the weekend, the grid operator said.

BY VICTOR JACK

A leak in a Baltic Sea gas pipeline over the weekend suggests "external activity," Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said Tuesday, in comments likely to stoke fears among EU countries worried about threats to their critical infrastructure.

Finnish gas system operator Gasgrid reported a leak early Sunday morning after the 77-kilometer-long Balticconnector pipeline that links the countries under the Gulf of Finland saw an “unusual” drop in pressure.

“The damage to the underwater infrastructure has been taken seriously and its causes have been investigated,” Niinistö said in a statement, adding that “what specifically caused the damage is not yet known.”

During a press conference on Tuesday evening, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described the incident as “not exactly the act of an ordinary person,” but did not say who he thought was responsible. "It is important to investigate the case thoroughly and not to jump to conclusions," he added.

"We will find out whether it was caused by a deliberate act or something else," said Timo Kilpeläinen, head of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation.

Finnish telecoms operator Elisa also said Tuesday it had detected a malfunction on an undersea sea cable it uses to verify communication connections at around the same time as the gas leak, even if services were not disrupted.

Niinistö said Finland would conduct its cooperation with the help of Estonia, and said NATO “was ready to assist with the investigation.” Due to difficult sea conditions, an investigation is expected to take several days.

A spokesperson for Estonia’s foreign affairs ministry said Finland would be “leading the work” on the probe.

Estonia has dispatched its navy to the zone where the leak is believed to have occurred.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he had spoken to Niinistö, adding the military alliance was “sharing information and stands ready to support Allies concerned.”

Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported Tuesday that unnamed government sources suspected Russia of being behind the attack.

Estonian gas operator Elering said the leak was stopped after a “period of around an hour or two” but that the damage would take “several months” to repair. Both Finland and Estonia have alternative sources of gas supply.

Last year, the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream gas pipelines were damaged by explosions in what Western governments called an act of sabotage. No definitive proof has yet been found about who was behind the attacks.

Estonian officials have been more cautious about this weekend’s leak. Jüri Saska, commander of the Estonian navy, said that “preventative activity” by the military would likely have detected any intentional damage.

Finnish and Estonian seismologists have also said they didn’t detect any seismic activity in the area at the time when the gas pipeline leak took place.