Nord Stream 2 could be used for intelligence gathering - official
The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea could be used for clandestine intelligence activities once it is completed, a Polish security official has claimed
Writing for the Defence News portal on Wednesday, Stanisław Żaryn, head of Poland's National Security Department, also said the pipeline, which will take Russian gas to Germany, poses a security threat to the West.
"If Nord Stream 2 is built, it will be a threat to the West's information security,” wrote Żaryn. “There is the risk that the pipeline's infrastructure might be used for intelligence purposes."
Żaryn, who is also the spokesman for the Polish government's special services coordinator, refuted Germany's claim that the pipeline was just an economic project, and stressed that the infrastructure used to lay it along the Baltic seabed could be used to house Russian surveillance systems.
He pointed out that Nato exercises are regularly carried out on the Baltic, and the sea, he added, was strategically important as an LNG supply route for countries like Poland, which want independence from Russian gas supplies.
Żaryn noted that the project could also be used as an excuse by Russia to deploy its navy in the Baltic Sea.
He also argued that more and more European countries now see the Nord Stream 2 project as a threat, and appealed to Germany to "approach the matter seriously." He also said that the US has a decidedly negative opinion of the pipeline, which has been made apparent by Washington's recent sanctions on construction firms involved in the project.
The US should remain at the forefront of international opposition to the pipeline, he wrote, and should also cooperate with other countries opposed to it, especially countries on Nato’s eastern flank.
