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The European Union’s top diplomat suspects that damage to two underwater Nord Stream natural gas pipelines was sabotage and warned of retaliation for any attack on Europe’s energy networks.

In a statement on behalf of all 27 member states, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said: “All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act.

“Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.”

Russia has ‘opened new Baltic front to war’ – Ukraine latest

Seismologists reported on Tuesday that explosions rattled the Baltic Sea before unusual leaks were discovered on two underwater natural gas pipelines running from Russia to Germany.

Russia has denied being behind any attack on the pipeline.

The three leaks were reported on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which are filled with natural gas.

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While they are not currently delivering the fuel to Europe, the damage means the pipelines are unlikely to be able to carry any gas to Europe this winter even if the political will to bring them online emerged, according to analysts.

Mr Borrell said the EU will support any investigation into the damage, and “will take further steps to increase our resilience in energy security”.

Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has called the damage an “act of sabotage”, while his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen said she views the leaks as “deliberate actions”,

The Danish energy authority said any event like this was “extremely rare”.

Denmark’s defence minister Morten Bodskov said: “There is reason to be concerned about the security situation in the Baltic Sea region.

“Despite the war efforts in Ukraine, Russia has a significant military presence in the Baltic Sea region and we expect them to continue their sabre-rattling.”

While it remains unknown who might be responsible for the damage, given its undersea location, Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau said on Tuesday that the leaks could be part of Russia’s hybrid war on NATO.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said allegations that Russia could be behind the incidents were “predictable and stupid”.

He told reporters in a conference call that the damage has caused Russia huge economic losses.

Professor Joan Cordiner, professor of process engineering at the University of Sheffield, said: “Pipes don’t just leak catastrophically suddenly.

“Typically normal leaks due to corrosion start small and build up over time. Therefore such a sudden large leak can only have come from a sudden blow cutting the pipe.”

Analysis: Pipeline attacks mean Ukrainian war is ‘now going to the Baltic’

Professor Michael Clarke, a security and defence analyst, told Sky News leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea were caused by “three explosions near the seabed”.

He added it is “clearly an act of sabotage”, as you need a submarine to cause such chaos underwater.

“This is not some casual terrorist act, it has to be a government. The only government who could really gain from that, in a peculiar way, is Russia – none of the European governments would want to do it.”

His comments come after Denmark said “deliberate actions” caused such leaks in the pipelines, which run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany.

“Privately, everyone is convinced this is a Kremlin-inspired piece of sabotage,” Professor Clarke said.

“This is a strategic own goal because although it increases the sense of isolation that there will be no Russian gas for Europe this winter, it actually destroys Russia’s credibility completely with European customers for the next couple of generations.”

Asked why they would do it, Professor Clarke said his guess is that the Russians wanted to “create insecurity that there may be more of this”.

“It opens up a new front in the war. It means the Ukrainian war is now going to the Baltic.”

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Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau resigns and suspends parliament until March

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Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau resigns and suspends parliament until March

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation.

The 53-year-old said he will step down as leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Party, which he has led since 2013.

He says it will allow his party to choose a new leader as he suspends parliament until March due to political deadlock.

Chrystia Freeland, who today stepped down as finance minister and deputy prime minister, arrives for a national caucus meeting, in Ottawa, Ontario, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Chrystia Freeland, seen on the day she quit as finance minister and deputy prime minister in December. Pic: Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP

Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation

Speaking to reporters in front of his residence at Rideau Cottage, in the country’s capital, Ottawa, he said “internal battles” mean that he “cannot be the best option” in the next election.

“I don’t easily back down faced with a fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country. But I do this job because the interests of Canadians and the well-being of democracy is something that I hold dear.

“A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election. I am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”

Former governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, is among the favourites to succeed him.

Chrystia Freeland, whose stunning resignation as finance minister and deputy prime minister precipitated the current crisis, leads in the polls.

Other front-runners are the former premier of British Columbia, Christy Clark, current finance minister Dominic LeBlanc and minister of foreign affairs, Melanie Joly.

Mr Trudeau, who has been prime minister since 2015, faced calls to quit from a chorus of his MPs amid poor showings in opinion polls.

He came under further pressure after Ms Freeland quit in December because of policy disagreements, including over how to handle possible US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump‘s incoming administration.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, are seen following a family photo of G7 leaders and Outreach partners at the Hotel San Domenico during a G7 summit in Taormina, Italy, Saturday, May 27, 2017. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
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Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump in Italy in 2017. Pic: AP

Mr Trudeau’s resignation comes as the polls show his party is likely to suffer a heavy defeat to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.

The Liberals must now name an interim leader to take over as prime minister ahead of a special leadership convention.

Mr Trudeau came to power 10 years ago following a decade of Conservative Party rule and was initially praised for returning the country to its liberal past.

But he has become deeply unpopular with voters in recent years over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing and surging immigration.

He is the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, who led the country from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.

The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada internationally.

Read more:
Former golden boy’s popularity in shreds
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US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if Ottawa does not stem what Mr Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs into the US.

Many fewer of each cross into the US from Canada than from Mexico, which Mr Trump has also threatened.

In a social media post on Christmas Day, Mr Trump even suggested the US could take control of Canada, as well as Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Canada is a major exporter of oil and natural gas to the US, which also relies on its northern neighbour for steel, aluminium and autos.

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Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau resigns and suspends parliament until March

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Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau resigns and suspends parliament until March

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation.

The 53-year-old said he will step down as leader of the country’s ruling Liberal Party, which he has led since 2013.

He says it will allow his party to choose a new leader as he suspends parliament until March due to political deadlock.

Chrystia Freeland, who today stepped down as finance minister and deputy prime minister, arrives for a national caucus meeting, in Ottawa, Ontario, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP)
Image:
Chrystia Freeland, seen on the day she quit as finance minister and deputy prime minister in December. Pic: Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press via AP

Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation

Speaking to reporters in front of his residence at Rideau Cottage, in the country’s capital, Ottawa, he said “internal battles” mean that he “cannot be the best option” in the next election.

“I don’t easily back down faced with a fight, especially a very important one for our party and the country. But I do this job because the interests of Canadians and the well-being of democracy is something that I hold dear.

“A new prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party will carry its values and ideals into that next election. I am excited to see that process unfold in the months ahead.”

Mr Trudeau, who has been prime minister since 2015, faced calls to quit from a chorus of his MPs amid poor showings in opinion polls.

He came under further pressure after his finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, resigned in December over clashes on policy.

The disagreements included how to handle possible US tariffs imposed by Donald Trump‘s incoming administration.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, are seen following a family photo of G7 leaders and Outreach partners at the Hotel San Domenico during a G7 summit in Taormina, Italy, Saturday, May 27, 2017. (Jonathan Ernst/Pool photo via AP)
Image:
Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump in Italy in 2017. Pic: AP

Mr Trudeau’s resignation comes as the polls show his party is likely to suffer a heavy defeat to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.

The Liberals must now name an interim leader to take over as prime minister ahead of a special leadership convention.

Mr Trudeau came to power 10 years ago following a decade of Conservative Party rule and was initially praised for returning the country to its liberal past.

But he has become deeply unpopular with voters in recent years over a range of issues, including the soaring cost of food and housing and surging immigration.

He is the eldest son of Pierre Trudeau, one of Canada’s most famous prime ministers, who led the country from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984.

The political upheaval comes at a difficult moment for Canada internationally.

Read more:
Former golden boy’s popularity in shreds
Zimbabwean migrants heading to South Africa
60m Americans under weather warnings

US President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods if Ottawa does not stem what Mr Trump calls a flow of migrants and drugs into the US.

Many fewer of each cross into the US from Canada than from Mexico, which Mr Trump has also threatened.

In a social media post on Christmas Day, Mr Trump even suggested the US could take control of Canada, as well as Greenland and the Panama Canal.

Canada is a major exporter of oil and natural gas to the US, which also relies on its northern neighbour for steel, aluminium and autos.

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Justin Trudeau was once Canada’s golden boy – but he steps down with his popularity in shreds

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Justin Trudeau was once Canada's golden boy - but he steps down with his popularity in shreds

Few one-time golden boys manage to retain their lustre long into political office.

Barack Obama just about held on to his, leaving the US presidency with his approval rating high despite his party’s 2016 loss to Donald Trump.

But Emmanuel Macron is faltering in France and Justin Trudeau steps down as head of Canada’s liberal party with his popularity in shreds. So much for Western liberal values.

In the high tides of inflation and immigration, those who were their supposed flag-bearers are no longer what electorates want.

Follow live: Justin Trudeau announces resignation

For Mr Trudeau, it is a dramatic reckoning. His approval ratings have dropped from 65% at their highest in September 2016 to 22% now, according to the “Trudeau Tracker” from Canada’s non-profit Angus Reid Institute.

The sudden departure of his finance minister and key political ally Chrystia Freeland last month dealt his leadership a body blow, just as Canada readies itself for a potential trade war with the US which, she argued in a bracing resignation letter, his government was not taking seriously enough.

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“Parliament has been paralysed for months,” Trudeau says

The man Mr Trump recently trolled as “Governor of the ‘Great State of Canada’ or ’51st (US) state'”, Mr Trudeau was as close to Canadian political royalty as it gets.

The son of the country’s 15th prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, he was famously toasted by US president Richard Nixon as “the future prime minister of Canada” when he joined his father on a state visit as a toddler.

Aged five, he met the late Queen for the first time. “Thank you for making me feel so old”, she remarked drily at a re-meet in Malta almost 40 years later.

He has led Canada’s liberal party since 2013 and served as the country’s 23rd prime minister for almost a decade.

Mr Trudeau won a resounding electoral victory in 2015 and secured the premiership through two subsequent elections, though as head of a minority government.

Mr Trudeau, his wife and children celebrate after he won the Federal Liberal leadership in 2013 in Ottawa. Pic: AP/The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld
Image:
Mr Trudeau, his wife and children celebrate after he won the Federal Liberal leadership in 2013 in Ottawa. Pic: AP/The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

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He made significant inroads against poverty in Canada, worked hard on nation to nation reconciliation with Canada’s indigenous communities, secured an effective trade deal with the US and Mexico in 2016 and managed to keep the public mostly on-side through the COVID-19 pandemic.

But he was a polarising figure. Holidays in exotic climes like a trip to the Bahamas in 2016 to an island belonging to the Aga Khan made him seem elitist and out of touch.

There was embarrassment when blackface images surfaced from his early years as a teacher, for which he apologised profusely.

His supposed liberal credentials smacked of double standards when he invoked emergency powers to crush truckers’ protests in 2022.

But it was the economic aftermath of the pandemic, with Canada suffering an acute housing shortage, immigration leaping under his premiership and the cost of living hitting households across the board which really piled on the pressure.

In those, Canada is not unique. But the opposition conservatives and the public at large clearly want change, and Mr Trudeau has responded.

He has announced his intention to resign as party leader and prime minister after the Liberals selects their next leader.

Mr Trudeau’s legacy may shine brighter with a little hindsight. But now is not that moment.

The question is whether his conservative opposition will fare any better in an increasingly combative geopolitical environment if, as seems likely, a candidate of their choosing wins a federal election due at some point this year.

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