Member states must strengthen their energy and other key sectors against potential sabotage, the bloc warned
Europe must take steps to protect its energy, communications, transport and other critical infrastructure from potential sabotage, the European Commission will recommend this week, according to Bloomberg. The EU’s governing body will also issue a “blueprint” for responding to future crises, the agency revealed on Monday.
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has brought with it a new set of threats, often combined as a hybrid attack,” the document said. “This has become evident with the apparent sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.”
The bloc is worried that Moscow will retaliate against a planned price cap on seaborne Russian gas supplies by sabotaging European infrastructure, writes Bloomberg.
Just weeks after explosions blew up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, a leak was discovered in the Druzhba oil pipeline, which transports Russian crude oil to Europe, in central Poland. Blamed on “accidental damage” it was quickly repaired, according to operator PERN. Rail traffic in northern Germany was shut down for several hours earlier this month after an apparent act of sabotage against fiber-optic communications cables, although authorities did not suspect foreign interference.
Several European nations have more or less explicitly pointed to Russia as the culprit in the sabotage against Nord Stream, despite the lack of publicly available evidence. Sweden has refused to allow Moscow to review the results of its investigation, having previously pulled out of a planned joint investigation with Denmark and Germany, citing privacy concerns. Russia has countered that it will not recognize the results if it is not allowed to participate, suggesting that not sharing its findings will be interpreted as having “something to hide” or otherwise complicit in a cover-up.
The day after Nord Stream was sabotaged, the Baltic Pipe opened between Norway and Poland, transporting gas south via Denmark. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed the pipeline shutdown as a “unique opportunity” for Europe to “once and for all remove dependence on Russian energy”, and the continent is increasing imports of US liquefied natural gas in a bid to bridge deficits created by the EU s sanctions against Russian energy.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for stress testing of critical European infrastructure last week at a conference in Tallinn, pledging to work with member states to carry out such tests as energy assets had become a target of attack. The EU is also working to digitize its energy system and plans to propose legislation to reduce cybersecurity risks for its gas and hydrogen networks starting next year, Bloomberg reported.
(RT.com)