The Russian security service launched an "international terrorism" probe over reports of recent gas leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines to Europe, the Russian prosecutor's office said Wednesday.
The FSB opened an investigation into "international terrorism" after "intentional actions were taken to damage gas pipelines near the Bornholm island ... causing significant economic damage to the Russian Federation," the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Germany, Denmark and Sweden have said attacks caused gas from the two Russian-owned gas pipelines, at the center of an energy standoff, to pour into the sea. The countries have not said who they suspect of carrying out the attacks.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council will meet Friday to discuss the leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, suspected to be sabotage, Sweden and the French council presidency said Wednesday.
"As the current Security Council president France has informed us today that Russia has requested a meeting about the Nord Stream leaks and this meeting is being planned for Friday," Sweden's Foreign Minister Ann Linde told a press conference.
Linde said that Denmark and Sweden had been asked to provide information to Security Council members about the leaks which occurred in their exclusive economic zones.
The French presidency of the Security Council subsequently confirmed that the meeting would take place on Friday afternoon at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, the Russian representative to the United Nations, said on his Telegram account that the meeting would be held at 3 p.m. (7 p.m. GMT).
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which link Russia to Germany, have been at the center of geopolitical tensions in recent months as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation against Western sanctions following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
While the pipelines – operated by a consortium majority-owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom – are not currently in operation, they both still contain gas.
Moscow and Washington both denied Wednesday that they were responsible for the suspected sabotage.
