Last year, the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea were hit by unexplained blasts. Moscow has called the incident an act of international terrorism and may seek compensation for the damage caused. Dmitry Birichevsky, the head of Russia’s Foreign Ministry department for economic cooperation, stated that it was not clear who Russia would seek damages from. The pipelines were jointly able to export 110 billion cubic metres of gas per year, more than Russia’s total gas exports of 101 bcm outside the former Soviet Union in 2022. Birichevsky also added that the future of the pipelines was uncertain. The ruptured Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, built by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom, are set to be sealed up and mothballed as there are no immediate plans to repair or reactivate them. Nord Stream 1 started operations in November 2011, while the construction of Nord Stream 2 was completed in September 2021 but never entered into operations after Germany shunned the project days before Russia sent troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Birichevsky also stated that Western countries were opposing a Russia-prepared draft U.N. Security Council resolution urging an independent international investigation of the Nord Stream blasts.
