A first serious lead, six months after the facts? According to the German weekly Der Spiegel, several clues point to Ukraine being responsible for the sabotage of the two Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany.
Four explosions occurred in late September, causing leaks and disrupting the vast infrastructure used to transport Russian gas to Europe. The investigations led by Germany, Sweden and Denmark were quickly based on the hypothesis of state sabotage, without clarifying who was responsible.
According to Der Spiegel, the police investigation is currently concentrating on a sailing boat searched a few months ago, the “Andromeda”. It may have been used to transport explosives for sabotage purposes in the Baltic Sea.
- Rental related to Ukraine
However, metadata from an email sent when renting the sailboat would lead to Ukraine. Earlier in the week, other German media, members of an international consortium of journalists, followed the story of the boat’s rental by a Polish company actually owned by Ukrainians.
VIDEO. Nord Stream: Sabotage “does not come from our actions,” says Ukraine’s defense minister
- A former soldier was among the passengers
The investigators are also following a lead “in Ukrainian military circles”, as reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, RND and WDR media. According to current investigations, the sailing boat is said to have left the northern German port of Rostock on September 6 with a team of six people on board, including divers and a doctor. One of the passengers, with a Romanian passport, “turned out to be a Ukrainian citizen” who “would have previously served in an infantry unit.”
In addition, traces of an explosive called octogen were discovered on this boat, which is “very common in both the West and the former Eastern bloc”. All of these clues “are consistent with the assessments of several secret services that the perpetrators in Ukraine should be sought after,” Der Spiegel summarizes.
The New York Times claimed in early March, based on information from US intelligence, that a “pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the sabotage.
The Danish press, for its part, reported at the end of April about the presence of a Russian naval vessel specializing in underwater operations near the site of the sabotage shortly before the explosions.
- Would the government be involved?
However, one question remains unanswered: Was the act “carried out by an uncontrolled commando or by the Ukrainian secret services,” asks the German weekly Der Spiegel. Was part of the Ukrainian government obviously aware of this attack?
In March, the New York Times reported that information viewed by US intelligence “did not allow any firm conclusions” and “raised the possibility that the operation was secretly launched by a third party with ties to the Ukrainian government or its security services.” .
This Thursday, Russia was angry about the lack of results of the investigation. It has summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Denmark and Sweden to the Russian Foreign Ministry to express to them a “strong protest against the total lack of results of the national investigations allegedly carried out by the authorities of these countries,” Russian diplomacy said in a statement.
Moscow has repeatedly asked to be involved in the investigation. “The fact that the German, Danish and Swedish authorities are avoiding any interaction with Russia in this case (…) is unacceptable,” added the Russian Foreign Ministry, accusing the three countries of “having no interest in clarifying the truth.” . this sabotage”.