{"id":32513,"date":"2023-02-10T06:42:58","date_gmt":"2023-02-10T01:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=32513"},"modified":"2025-04-19T13:34:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T08:04:43","slug":"nord-stream-gas-pipelines-bombing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/nord-stream-gas-pipelines-bombing\/","title":{"rendered":"Nord Stream Gas Pipelines Bombing"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What are Nord Stream pipelines?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the importance of this pipeline?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary: Nord Stream gas pipelines bombing<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Key highlights of the report<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>According to a new report by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines was ordered by the United States.\n<ul>\n<li>In September 2022, four leaks were reported at different points in the Nord Stream pipelines, linking Russia and Europe.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Two of the leaks were in Swedish waters while the other two were reported from Danish waters.<\/li>\n<li>Subsequent investigations revealed that the undersea explosions were responsible for these leakages.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What are Nord Stream pipelines?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/pW7wr3glngGE9E_NBMnatMNe8cGFHSlOUGFDKhqlpbyENHAPxDH4P4keCnHSLhcBeJRWoujiRETpHExDfHVlMJtlzbx8QKV9xXmRs1bJ564T874CxVF-n57DGO0J6G21QEEsTPnVodxEgbR9x9w9Ug\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image caption: Nord Stream Pipelines<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Nordstream consists of two pipelines, which have two lines each.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Nord Stream 1 was completed in 2011 and runs from Vyborg in Leningrad to Lubmin near Greifswald, Germany.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Nord Stream 2 which runs from Ust-Luga in Leningrad to Lubmin was completed in September 2021.\n<ul>\n<li>It has the capacity to handle 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year once it becomes operational.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The twin pipelines together can transport a combined total of 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year to Europe for at least 50 years.<\/li>\n<li>The Nord Stream crosses the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) of several countries including Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany, and the territorial waters of Russia, Denmark, and Germany.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>In Germany, the pipeline connects to the OPAL (Baltic Sea Pipeline) and NEL (North European Pipeline) which further connects to the European grid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the importance of Nord Stream pipeline?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Increasing dependence of Europe on Russian gas<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Europe requires more than 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas each year and around <u>40% of its gas comes from Russia<\/u>.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>This gas is used for heating homes, factories, and offices in the harsh, long European winters and also for power generation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Reducing dependence on Russian gas is difficult as there are no easy replacements. There is no infrastructure to import LNG from exporters like Qatar and the U.S.<\/li>\n<li>Germany\u2019s transition to cleaner fuels by phasing out nuclear power and cutting reliance on coal has increased its dependence on Russian gas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cost effective mode<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Nord Stream 2 is important because it eliminates the risks related with sending gas through transit countries.<\/li>\n<li>It also cuts operating costs by doing away with transit fees and gives direct access to its most important European customer, Germany.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It increases Europe\u2019s dependence on Russia while giving it a reliable customer.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Importance for Russia<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>As for Russia, which has the largest natural gas reserves in the world, around 40% of its budget comes from sales of gas and oil.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary: Nord Stream gas pipelines bombing<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>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.<\/li>\n<li>This has been claimed by a report prepared by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.\n<ul>\n<li>Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has previously worked with The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine.<\/li>\n<li>He published the findings of his investigation on Substack.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>President Joe Biden\u2019s administration has denied the allegations and called the report utterly false and complete fiction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Key highlights of the report<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Responsible actors<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The report claimed that US Navy divers, operating under cover of a mid-summer 2022 NATO exercise, planted remotely triggered bombs to destroy three of the four Nord Stream pipelines.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Why US gave such order?<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>As per the report, Germany and much of western Europe were dependent on the Nord Stream pipelines for a cheap supply of gas.<\/li>\n<li>Hence, US feared that as long as these countries remain dependent on these pipelines, they would be hesitant in providing aid and arms to Ukraine against Russian invasion.\n<ul>\n<li>Once the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, Russia sought to use the pipeline to negotiate its interests by restricting supplies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>Which are Baltic countries?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Baltic States, also known as the Baltic countries, is a geopolitical term that usually refers to the three sovereign states on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>What is the Baltic Sea known for?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Baltic Sea is the youngest sea on the planet, almost enclosed, experiencing near-arctic conditions and is one of the world&#8217;s largest brackish waters.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-global\/us-bombed-nord-stream-gas-pipelines-journalist-claims-8434423\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>US bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines, says top investigative journalist. What happened under the Baltic Sea last year?<\/u><\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0<strong>|\u00a0<\/strong> \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-global\/us-bombed-nord-stream-pipelines-who-is-seymour-hersh-8435031\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Indian Express<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nordstream is a network of underwater gas pipelines to supply natural gas from Russia to Germany via Baltic sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":32514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}