Underwater Baltic Sea pipeline concerns Swedish defence minister

Nov 14, 2006, 15:57 GMT

Stockholm - Swedish Defence Minister Mikael Odenberg expressed 'slight worry' Tuesday over a planned Russian-German Baltic Sea gas pipeline slated to be located east of the island of Gotland.

'The gas pipeline has implications on energy, environment and security,' Odenberg told Swedish radio news.

Gotland is located 90 kilometres off Sweden's east coast in the Baltic Sea.

Odenberg and other Swedish politicians, including Ulrica Messing of the opposition Social Democrats, as well as defence analysts have also noted that the pipeline may need protection which could result in Russian marine units being deployed closer to Swedish territory.

Odenberg said the pipeline also had some towers that could be used for surveillance purposes.

Sweden is not dependent on Russian energy exports, but critics of the project have noted that Moscow has at times used energy as a means to gain political leverage, citing the example of Ukraine.

Parliament committees on foreign affairs, as well as environment and agriculture were slated to organize hearings on the plans.

The consortium planning to build the gas pipeline Tuesday handed in its plans to environmental authorities in Sweden, Finland and other concerned countries about the possible enviromental effects of the project.

The planned 1,200-kilometre long Nord Stream pipeline is due to go online 2010. Some 370 kilometres pass through the Finnish economic zone in the Gulf of Finland and the northern Baltic while some 500 kilometres pass mainly through the Swedish economic zone.

Studies on migrating birds, fishing and fishing banks as well as the effects of silt stirred up during construction were likely to be included in the enviromental assessments.

Another concern mentioned in connection with the undersea pipeline was that construction could disturb sites where munitions and chemical weapons were dumped in the Baltic Sea after World War II, and in later years.

Finnish authorities said the enviromental assessment would be reviewed by the Uusima regional enviroment centre.