The Baltic Sea risks a major environmental disaster if the construction of a pipeline planned to carry Russian gas to Europe continues as planned, the Swedish prime minister has warned.

Passing the North European Gas Pipeline along the Baltic seabed would inevitably stir up the chemical wastes that have accumulated there over decades of dumping weapons, wastes and sunken ships, PM Goran Persson said.

He called on the consortium behind the project, which includes E.ON, Russia’s Gazprom and German company BASF, to re-direct the pipeline onto land instead of passing it under the Baltic Sea.

The project, which would deliver gas to the UK, Germany, Holland, France and Belgium, risks “setting off a major environmental disturbance on top of all the other environmental problems the Baltic sea has,” he said.

Goska Romanowicz

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