LAPEENRANTA (AFP - An accident on the pipeline, that will pass Swedish waters, would be vastly less damaging than the current situation in the Gulf of Mexico, Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

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Russia has accepted a Finnish proposal to place the construction and exploitation of the Nord Stream underwater pipeline, which will carry Russian gas to Europe, under surveillance, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

The 1,224-kilometre (765-mile) pipeline under the Baltic Sea has raised concerns among ecologists.

"The prime minister (Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen) has suggested that we organise the permanent surveillance of both the construction and the exploitation of this underwater pipeline," Putin said at a press conference where he was joined by his Finnish counterpart.

"We agree with this proposal."

Putin insisted that an accident on the pipeline would be vastly less damaging than the current situation in the Gulf of Mexico, where an oil rig operated by the British oil giant BP exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers.

Officials said that a BP procedure to dam up the leak with mud appeared to stop the flow Thursday of a leak from a pipe ruptured by the disaster.

"Gas is not oil and if there were a leak there would be no pollution," Putin said.

"A gas pipeline can be plugged and with modern technology it can be done almost immediately."

Vanhanen said he agreed with Putin's assessment, adding that tankers pose a greater threat to the Baltic Sea because of the "human" factor.

Nord Stream, which is being financed by Russian gas giant Gazprom along with E.On Ruhrgas and BASF-Winterhsall of Germany, will carry 55 billion cubic metres of gas a year to the German city of Greifswald, passing through the territorial waters of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.