It is likely that a gas leak in a pipeline between Finland and Estonia in the Baltic Sea on Sunday was caused by an ”external action,” Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Tuesday afternoon.

”The authorities have now found a leak in Finnish waters. The pipe is damaged and it is likely that it was caused intentionally,” Orpo said at a press conference on Tuesday at 17:30, local time.

At the same press conference, the Finnish coast guard said that obvious damage has been found on the pipeline. The coast guard also estimates that the damage may have been caused by external factors, Reuters reports.

Earlier on Tuesday, Finland’s president wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Finland suspects that external forces may have had a hand in the damage.

”The damage to the underwater infrastructure is being taken seriously, and its causes have been investigated since Sunday. It is likely that the damage to the pipeline and communication cable is caused by external activity,” he wrote.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has announced that NATO stands ready to help Finland and support the allies that have been affected.

Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, Swedish media SVT reported that the Finnish military has been involved in the investigation of the spill.

Finnish public service broadcaster Yle has learned from unnamed sources that the leak ”does not appear to be an accident.”

Yle also quotes Finnish tabloid newspaper Iltalehti as saying that the Finnish government and defense suspect Russia of attacking the pipeline.

Iltalehti’s story is based on unnamed foreign and security sources. It has not been confirmed by any official channels.

It remains to be seen exactly what kind of external activity could potentially be involved. According to Finnish and Estonian seismologists, no seismic activity indicating an explosion has been measured.

On Sunday night, pressure suddenly dropped in one of the pipelines that offer connectivity to the Northern European gas network.

The head of Finland’s state-owned gas operator, Gasgrid, said there was a rupture in the line. However, the leak was quickly minimized, and the line was taken out of service. This is according to Swedish media SVT.

The Balticconnector, as the pipeline is called, runs between Paldiski in Estonia and Inkoo in Finland. According to Gasgrid, it could be out of service for several months.

However, Gasgrid’s assessment is that the gas supply in Finland is still good, as the country also has a floating LNG terminal that can produce enough gas to cover everyone’s needs. LNG is a liquefied form of natural gas.

(Translated by DeepL with additional editing by Christian Radich Hoffman)