ANKARA

Radoslaw Sikorski, European Parliament member and former Polish foreign minister, insinuated that the US had deliberately inflicted damage on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. 

On his Twitter account late Tuesday, Sikorski shared a photograph of gas leak, saying "Thank you, USA."

He commented that there is no pipeline shortage to transfer gas from Russia to Western Europe, including Germany.

All Ukrainian and Baltic Sea states have opposed the construction of the Nord Stream for 20 years, he said, adding the "Nord Stream's only logic was for Putin to be able to blackmail or wage war on Eastern Europe with impunity."

"Now $20 billion of scrap metal lies at the bottom of the sea, another cost to Russia of its criminal decision to invade Ukraine,” he said.

On Monday, Danish authorities reported a gas leak from the defunct Nord Stream 2 pipeline close to the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.

Shortly after discoveries of the leaks on the Russian Nord Stream 2, the Swedish Maritime Authority issued a warning on Tuesday about two leaks on the Russia-owned Nord Stream 1 pipeline in Swedish and Danish waters.

Denmark's energy agency confirmed three leaks were detected on Nord Stream 1 and on Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, northeast and southeast of the island of Bornholm.

The Russia-owned Nord Stream 2 pipeline flowing from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany was originally constructed to double the volume of gas. However, as soon as construction finished, Germany decided to halt operations after the start of Russia's war on Ukraine.

Russia stopped the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that stretches 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) under the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast near St Petersburg to northeastern Germany following German's decision to cut gas supplies from Nord Stream 2.