NORD STREAM - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
News: At
Biden behest, US covert divers bombed Nord Stream: Report
What's in the news?
● A
veteran American investigative journalist has claimed that the September 2022
bombing of the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines was carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a
covert operation at the direction of the White House.
● President
Joe Biden’s administration has denied the allegations and called the report
“utterly false and complete fiction”.
Nord Stream-1:
● Nord
Stream 1 is a 1,224 km underwater gas pipeline that runs from Vyborg in
northwest Russia to Lubmin in
northeastern Germany via the Baltic Sea.
● Germany is Russia’s
biggest European gas consumer, and most of it
comes through the Nord Stream Pipeline.
● It
transports 55 billion cubic meters of
gas a year, of which most goes directly to Germany, while the rest travels
west and southwards through onshore links to other countries and into storage
caverns.
● The
Nord Stream pipeline crosses several countries Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs),
including Russia, Finland, Sweden,
Denmark, and Germany, as well as the territorial waters of Russia, Germany
and Denmark.
● The
pipeline connects to the OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline) and NEL (North European
Pipeline) in Germany and further
connects with the European grid.
Nord Stream-2:
● Nord
Stream 2, which runs from Ust-Luga in
Leningrad to Lubmin, was completed in September 2021 and has a capacity of
55 billion cubic meters of gas per year once it becomes operational.
● In
Russia, which boasts the world's largest natural gas reserves,
gas and oil sales account for almost 40% of the country's budget.
● Nord
Stream 2 is significant because it eliminates the risks associated with sending
gas through transit countries, reduces operational costs by eliminating transit fees, and provides
direct access to Germany, its most important European customer.
● It
enhances Europe's dependence on Russia while providing it with a reliable
customer.