Sweden seizes pipeline leak 'evidence'

Sweden's domestic security agency says its preliminary investigation of leaks from two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea "has strengthened the suspicions of serious sabotage" as the cause and a prosecutor says evidence at the site has been seized.

The Swedish Security Service said the probe confirmed that "detonations" caused extensive damage to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines last week.

Authorities had said when the leaks off Sweden and Denmark first surfaced that explosions were recorded in the area.

The agency, which said what happened in the Baltic Sea was "very serious," did not give details about its investigation.

But in a separate statement, Swedish prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said "seizures have been made at the crime scene and these will now be investigated".

Ljungqvist, who led the preliminary investigation, did not identify the seized evidence.

Ljungqvist said he had given "directives to temporarily block (the area) and carry out a crime scene investigation".

Now that the initial probe is completed, a blockade around the pipelines off Sweden will be lifted, he said.

Last week, undersea explosions ruptured Nord Stream and its sister pipeline, Nord Stream 2, at two locations off Sweden and two off Denmark.

The pipelines were built to carry Russian natural gas to Germany.

Danish authorities said the two methane leaks they were monitoring in international waters stopped over the weekend.

One of the leaks off Sweden also appeared to have ended.