“Tonight, I, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defense announced that it is probably a deliberate act that is behind the detonations that caused leaks on the gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Baltic Sea,” Magdalena Andersson said in a statement on Facebook.

“Given the security policy situation, the government takes this very seriously. We are in close contact with other affected countries, above all Denmark, but also Norway, Finland, Germany and the USA,” she added.

On Monday the Nord Stream 1 and the Nord Stream 2 pipelines both ruptured. Unexplained large pressure drops were reported in both pipelines at the end-station in Germany. A gas leak from NS2 was located late on 26 September.

Early on Tuesday, two separate leaks in NS1 were discovered. The leaks are in international waters, but within the Danish and Swedish economic zones.

Both Berliner Zeitung and Le Monde newspapers have asked if it is sabotage, and a Kremlin spokesman said it could be. Both pipelines were not in operation at the time of these incidents, but do contain gas. (ILKHA)