MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st May, 2023) A report on the measures to protect NATO's critical undersea infrastructure will be presented ahead of the alliance's summit in Vilnius in July, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on Tuesday.
Store recalled that at the end of last year, he, together with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, had proposed to create a NATO monitoring center for the protection of critical infrastructure in the North Sea, including energy pipelines.
"I am pleased that the Secretary General responded swiftly and established a coordination cell at the headquarters of NATO, and I hope to see this reflected also in Vilnius," he said at a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Store added that the collaborative work of NATO allies is instrumental in protecting Norwegian oil and gas infrastructure, which, in turn, facilitates shipments of Norwegian natural gas to Europe.
The announcement of NATO's plans to bolster undersea infrastructure security came following a major incident with the Russian Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. The pipelines, which transported natural gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, were hit by explosions last September and rendered partially inoperative, with the incident still under investigation by Denmark, Germany and Sweden, as well as separately by Russia.
Russia considers the explosions at the two pipelines an act of international terrorism. There are no official results of the investigation yet, but Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February 2023 alleging that the explosions had been organized by the United States with the support of Norway. At the same time, The New York Times reported in March, citing intelligence, that a "pro-Ukrainian group" might be involved in the Nord Stream incidents.
