Well why do people have to keep repeating themselves in this thread, as to the reasons why Russia would blow up these pipelines?
Are you not reading the posts?
1/ 'If Nord Stream is shut down suddenly through “force majeure,” a sudden uncontrollable stop that is the fault of neither party, then Russia can void its obligations toward European stakeholders without legally breaking contracts, thus dodging the many penalties in doing so. Gazprom will no longer need to invent excuses not to supply Europe via Nord Stream 1.'
2/ 'The Nord Stream consortium companies and eventually Gazprom might hope to collect insurance for the damaged pipelines. Given that they already looked set to become a stranded asset, that would be far from the worst outcome for the giant company.'
3/ 'By ending all possible routes for gas delivery resumption with the West and making rapprochement more difficult, Russian oligarchs who have not yet fallen out of a window - but may still be wavering in their dedication to Putin -have no choice to acquiesce to his leadership.'
4/ 'If perpetrated by Russia, the signaling value toward the West—which would certainly know Russia is behind the explosions—may be a threat to the rest of the marine energy infrastructure. Back in 2021, Putin told a gathering of military leaders: " If our Western colleagues continue the obviously aggressive stance, we will take appropriate retaliatory military-technical measures and react harshly to unfriendly steps. I want to emphasize that we have every right to do so." Was the Nord Stream attack a hint that similar mishaps might happen to some or all of the seven major pipelines delivering Norwegian gas to the UK and continental Europe? The explosions coincided with the inauguration of the Baltic Pipe taking Norwegian gas to Poland, so this is hardly an academic hypothesis.'
5/ The pipeline explosions could be an attempt by Russia to smear the USA, to galvanise US domestic critics, and to split the US - Europe alliance. Russia's Ambassador to the UN Nebenzia posted to Twitter: "Does the #US benefit from what happened to the Nord Stream? Of course it does. American LNG suppliers now can celebrate a manifold increase of LNG deliveries to Europe. In political terms, the last pillar that maintained European energy independence was ruined."
