A spokesman for the Kremlin-controlled gas giant Gazprom said yesterday that 800 million cubic meters of natural gas had leaked after an explosion hit two pipelines under the North Sea, TASS news agency reported.

Spokesman Sergey Kuprianov told the United Nations session via video link that the amount of gas leaked was equal to a three-month supply to Denmark.

Early Monday morning around 2 a.m. local time, bubbles began to appear on the surface of the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Poland, about 23 kilometers southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm. That morning it was reported that pressure in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline had dropped overnight from 105 bar to seven bar, indicating a leak.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline is 1.230 kilometers long and stretches from Russia across the Baltic Sea to Germany. It was supposed to transport billions of cubic meters of gas to Europe until Russia invaded Ukraine, and then Germany refused to license the pipeline's operators, so it was never commissioned.

Denmark has hired warplanes to look for signs of a leak and identify an area of ​​the sea as dangerous for ships. The timing of the leak was confirmed by readings from seismologists in neighboring countries, who registered an earthquake-like event measuring 1,8 on the Richter scale and then located it in almost the same location where the leak was coming to the surface.

Around 17 p.m. after the first reading around Nord Stream 2, seismologists recorded a second reading northeast of Bornholm, indicating another incident, Hina recalls.

Shortly after, Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream 1, said it was investigating the causes of the pressure drop in the pipeline. Again, seismologist readings located the incident at a specific location – about 55 kilometers northeast of Bornholm.

The following morning, the Swedish Maritime Administration issued a warning about two leaks from the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in its and Danish waters, bringing the total number of leaks to three. Nord Stream 1 follows a similar but not identical route from Russia to Germany and was used to transport Russian gas to Europe from 2011 until the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe began to reduce its dependence on gas from Russia. With the reduction in the flow through Nord Stream 1 to Europe from Russia, this pipeline was eventually closed.

At first, surrounding European countries were wary, saying an investigation was needed to find out what happened. The pipeline operator said the leak was "unprecedented", but had no explanation. The Kremlin was quick to say that sabotage cannot be ruled out.

On Tuesday, seismologists who recorded the incidents said their analysis showed the earthquakes were caused by explosions. Björn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismic Network, said: "There is no doubt, this is not an earthquake."

By Wednesday, many politicians were convinced that the damage to the pipe was caused by human activity and was intentional, not an earthquake or accident.

Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov said on Wednesday: "Our assessment is that the burst pipes are not an accident, but an intentional act."

Very quickly Russia was "suspected". Numerous commentators wonder who would profit from such pipeline disruptions, noting how it could affect gas prices, reports Index.

Ukraine immediately blamed Russia, and an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podolyak, said the leak was a "terrorist attack planned by Russia and an act of aggression against the EU," offering no evidence for such a claim.