UK gas prices have rocketed following a suspected Russian attack on a pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
The 48-mile pipeline, which connects Nato members Finland and Estonia, suddenly sprung a leak on Sunday morning.
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It came one year after the Nord Stream gas route between Russia and Germany was also attacked.
Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that officials in Helsinki are convinced Russia sabotaged the gas pipeline.
The country’s foreign minister Elina Valtonen would say only that the pipe and some undersea telecom cables “have probably been damaged on purpose”.
President Sauli Niinisto said it was likely the leak had been caused by “external activity”.
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But authorities in Finland said they were investigating on the basis that it was sabotage.
Experts believe the damage will take months to repair.
The news sent wholesale UK natural gas prices shooting up 14 per cent to 124.6p-a-therm yesterday, after being as low as 88p on Friday.
Prices are now at a four-month high amid worries about Europe’s energy security and fears that the war in Israel could trigger another oil crisis.
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Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation said that rupturing the pipeline would require “special knowledge”.
Detective Inspector Timo Kilpelainen told reporters: “This act could not have been done by an ordinary person.”
Analysts said the attack could be Russian president Vladimir Putin’s retaliation against Finland for joining Nato, a switch from its decades-long neutrality.
Finland joined the 31-strong military alliance in April, just over a year after the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
