Blinken Says US Supports Finland, Estonia's Probe Into Balticconnector Gas Pipeline Damage

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the United States supports the investigation of Finland and Estonia into the causes of the damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline, which runs from Finland to Estonia under the Baltic Sea.

"We stand with NATO Allies Finland and Estonia as they investigate damage to undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea and support their ongoing investigation to determine the cause," Blinken said on X (formerly known as Twitter).

Earlier on Wednesday, Finnish police spokesman Mikko Simola said that some external traces had been detected in the seabed near the site where Balticconnector was damaged, adding that the Central Finland Police Department was investigating the matter together with colleagues from Estonia.

On Wednesday, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said that his ministry obtained photo and video footage of the damage, which suggests that the pipeline had been pulled from one side and dragged. Authorities cannot rule out that the pipeline had been damaged by an anchor, media reported.

On Tuesday, NORSAR, an independent seismic monitoring organization, said that it had recorded what appeared to be an explosion at the pipeline. The suspected explosion was measured at 1.0 on the Richter scale, which NORSAR said was much smaller than the explosion at Russia's Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022.

Balticconnector was shut down early on October 8 after a sudden drop in pressure raised concerns that gas was leaking from the 48-mile undersea pipeline, which has an annual capacity of up to 2.6 billion cubic meters. Pipeline operator Gasgrid Finland said the pipeline appeared to have been damaged.

Balticconnector is a gas pipeline connecting the Finnish city of Inga and Estonia's Paldiski. The pipeline gives Finland access to Latvia's Incukalns underground gas storage facility.