A pipeline connecting Lithuania with Latvia exploded Friday, with authorities having stressed there is no reason to believe it was an intentional attack.
According to Lithuanian broadcaster LRT, 250 inhabitants of the village of Pasvalio Vienkiemiai were forced to evacuate in the aftermath of the blast, although the fire has since been extinguished.
Footage on social media shows flames shooting over a hundred feet in the air at the site of the explosion in the north of Lithuania.
"According to the initial assessment, we do not see any malign cause” for the incident, Amber Grid Chief Executive Nemunas Biknius told reporters at a news conference Friday evening, adding “the investigation will cover all possible options.”
Nevertheless, the blast quickly drew comparisons to the terrorist attack carried out against the Nord Stream pipelines among Western media outlets – along with the extraordinary insinuation that Russia was somehow involved.
“Whether [the pipeline in Lithuania] is related to the war or not, it isn't clear, but it is certainly not something that normally happens to pipelines without some presumably nefarious or sinister motivation behind it,” Sky News’ Dominic Waghorn claimed Friday.
As pipeline operators there have pointed out, there is no evidence to suggest Russia had anything to do with the blast in Lithuania.
In the weeks after the Nord Stream blasts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said representatives of the British military were at least partly responsible, as they “took part in the planning, provision and implementation of [the] terrorist attack.”
Sweden has so far refused to share the results of its investigation into the attack with either its European neighbors or the rest of the world, citing “national security” concerns.