US Navy Claims Its Aircraft Conducted 'Routine Flight' Over Baltic Hours After Nord Stream Blast

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft, which appeared on the tracking data shortly after the explosion on the Nord Stream pipelines, conducted a routine flight over the Baltic Sea that is unrelated to the incident, the US navy told Sputnik.

"The US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft shown in the tracking data conducted a routine Baltic Sea maritime reconnaissance flight, unrelated to the leaks from the Nord Stream pipelines," US Navy Capt. Tamara Lawrence, the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa spokesperson, said.

The spokesperson added that P-8A Poseidon aircraft often operated from allied and partner nation airbases in the US Sixth Fleet area of operations in order to increase proficiency and combined interoperability.

Reuters reported on Friday that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon aircraft flew from Iceland to northwestern Poland and then departed to the site of the damaged portion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline several hours after the facility was sabotaged.

The report said the US Navy aircraft was flying over the North Sea toward Poland around the same time when Swedish seismologists detected a subsea blast southeast of Bornholm Island.

On September 26, a sabotage on the Nord Stream pipeline network caused a rapid gas pressure drop and leakage under the Baltic Sea. The operator, Nord Stream AG, said it was impossible to estimate a time frame for repairing the system.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has been investigating the pipeline incidents as acts of international terrorism. Meanwhile, Danish Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod has announced that the government intends to deny Russia a role in the probe.