Revealing Who Was Behind Russia’s Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage | News

Media sources reported that an arrest warrant was issued in the incident of sabotaging the Russian gas pipelines “Nord Stream 1 and 2” in the Baltic Sea, nearly two years after the incident occurred.

The German newspapers Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung and ARD television reported that the German Federal Prosecutor General had obtained the arrest warrant from the German Federal Court.

According to reports, the suspect is a Ukrainian national whose last residence was monitored in Poland, but who has now gone into hiding.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office could not immediately be reached for comment on the veracity of the reports.

A series of underwater explosions on September 26, 2022, sabotaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines transporting natural gas from Russia to Western Europe.

Russian natural gas previously flowed to Germany via Nord Stream 1, but Nord Stream 2 had not yet entered service due to Russia's war on Ukraine and subsequent political conflicts.

Authorities in several countries have begun investigating the incident, but Denmark and Sweden have now halted proceedings, and speculation about the perpetrators has long swirled.

According to the investigation conducted by the three media outlets, two other Ukrainians, including a woman, are also suspected of involvement in the crime.

According to these reports, they are also suspected of being involved in carrying out attacks by diving into the sea and planting explosive devices on the pipelines.

The reports indicated that the information now published is also based on “information from a foreign intelligence service.”

Investigations conducted so far have focused on a sailing boat on which traces of explosives were discovered in July 2023 and it is suspected that the boat “Andromeda” may have been used to transport explosives for the sabotage operation.

Sweden stops investigation

On February 7, the Swedish Public Prosecution Service announced the closure of its investigation into the sabotage of the two Russian gas pipelines, justifying the decision by saying that the matter did not fall within its jurisdiction.

In a statement on the matter, Swedish Attorney General Mats Ljungqvist said that the investigation concluded that the incident “does not fall within the jurisdiction of Swedish justice, and therefore the investigation must be closed,” explaining that he had shared the results of the investigation with German judicial authorities.

The Swedish prosecutor denied that there was any indication that Sweden or Swedish citizens were involved in the attack, and recalled that the bombing took place in international waters.

He described the legal cooperation with Denmark and Germany in this regard as good, and said, “Within the framework of this legal cooperation, we were able to hand over documents that could be used as evidence in the German investigation.”

Denmark follows in Sweden's footsteps

On February 26, Danish police announced the closure of the investigation into the sabotage incident that affected the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which connects Russia and Germany.

Based on the results of the investigation, the police reported that the authorities were able to conclude that the sabotage affecting the pipelines was deliberate. At the same time, they considered that there was no necessary basis to continue the criminal investigation in Denmark.

In contrast, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov criticized Denmark's decision, telling reporters that “the situation looks almost absurd,” as on the one hand they admit that deliberate sabotage took place, but on the other hand they do not continue the investigation.

Neighbouring Sweden had earlier in February closed the investigation due to lack of jurisdiction, meaning Germany is now investigating the incident on its own.

Four major gas leaks have been detected in Nord Stream pipelines off the Danish island of Bornholm, with seismic survey institutes recording two underwater explosions shortly before the leak.