Investigators are checking whether the EU country was used as a hub for suspected Ukrainian saboteurs
Leakage at Nord Stream 2 near Bornholm, Denmark 09/27/2022
rt German investigators are trying to determine whether Poland played a role in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines last September, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Berlin authorities assume that suspected Ukrainian saboteurs used the neighboring country as a base of operations before the attacks.
In its Saturday article, the WSJ claimed that the German federal criminal police had managed to trace the entire route of the Andromeda yacht allegedly used in the operation. The ship’s name had appeared in reports previously published by several other media outlets.
According to the WSJ, German authorities have already established that the yacht sailed in each of the locations where the explosions later occurred. Investigators came to the conclusion after examining data pulled from Andromeda’s radio and navigation equipment, as well as the suspects’ satellites, cell phones and Gmail accounts.
While the perpetrators were believed to be Ukrainians, according to media reports, German authorities also determined that the yacht was chartered with the help of a Ukrainian travel agency based in Warsaw named Feeria Lwowa.
According to reports, German investigators suspect that the company is a cover for the Ukrainian secret service. A van in which the suspects arrived in the German port before boarding Andromeda also had Polish license plates, the WSJ determined, citing the results of the investigation.
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The agency quoted anonymous German officials as saying there was no evidence that the Polish government was involved in the conspiracy. A spokesman for prosecutors in Germany told reporters that investigators were working to gather enough evidence to issue international arrest warrants.
Ukraine has vehemently denied any involvement in the underwater explosions that ruptured pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. Earlier this week, American independent media outlet The Grayzone said its reporters had found a diving boot similar to those worn by US and Ukrainian military divers during an expedition to the site last month.
Meanwhile, Pulitzer Prizewinning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a story in February claiming the US was involved in the conspiracy. While Washington was quick to deny the allegations, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in late March that he “totally agrees” with Hersh’s findings.