E.U. warns of ‘robust’ response against sabotage after Nord Stream blasts

BERLIN — European policymakers pointed Wednesday to sabotage as they launched investigations into breaches of three major underwater natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, blasts that experts said could result in the largest-ever single release of methane into the atmosphere from the energy sector.

Danish authorities voiced increasing confidence that explosions were the source of the massive hit to the Nord Stream pipelines that channeled natural gas from Russia to Germany until the Kremlin cut the taps earlier this month. Defense Minister Morten Bodskov met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the security situation in the Baltic Sea, calling what happened “sabotage.”