The traces of the alleged saboteurs lead to Ukraine.
(Photo: dpa)
Nord Stream 2 was a German-Russian energy project in which the cost-benefit balance was right from the start for only one side: the Russian side. Even now, with the rubble on the bottom of the Baltic Sea, the pipeline is still serving the Kremlin – to divide Europe and weaken Ukraine.
But first things first: The background to the explosions that destroyed one of the two Nord Stream 2 tubes and both tubes of the older sister pipeline Nord Stream on September 27, 2022 are gradually coming to light. The trail that the federal prosecutor is following leads to Ukraine.
The status of the investigation can be summarized as follows: Apparently, a diving commando blew up the pipelines. The motor glider that the saboteurs set sail with has now been found and searched by the authorities. A company through which the ship was rented is said to have connections to Ukraine.
The intelligence of the Americans also points in this direction. In Brussels, top officials are rumored that the US may know more than has leaked out so far.
To be clear: nothing has been proven yet. It is just as possible that the saboteurs and their backers acted on their own initiative as the Ukrainian government was involved. It is also conceivable that the attack was a Russian operation and the divers set the wrong track to cast suspicion on Ukraine.
Every week, Moritz Koch, head of the Handelsblatt office in Brussels, analyzes trends and conflicts, regulatory projects and strategic concepts from the inner workings of the EU, alternating with other Brussels correspondents. Because anyone interested in business needs to know what’s going on in Brussels. You can reach him at: [email protected]
For a long time, there was a suspicion in Brussels that Russia blew up the Nord Stream pipelines itself in order to make the Europeans aware of the vulnerability of their energy infrastructure. However, this variant is now considered the least likely. The fact that the clues to the demolition squad remained under lock and key for so long indicates that the investigators have no evidence of Russian perpetrators.
NATO and the EU are aware of the explosive nature of the trail into Ukraine: the Ukrainian armed forces urgently need further international support to defend themselves against Russia’s invading troops. But should it prove true that Ukraine has blown up a European gas pipeline, cracks are likely to form in the western alliance.
Nord Stream pipelines were Russia’s instrument of power
Germany in particular is in focus: SPD politician Ralf Stegner is already predicting “political turbulence that should have washed up”. And Saxony’s CDU Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer is appealing to the federal government to save the pipeline for the “post-war period”.
Therefore, it is important to remember that the Nord Stream project was not a harmless economic initiative, but a Kremlin instrument of power to increase Germany’s dependence on Russian energy, bypass Eastern Europe, and weaken Ukraine.
>> Read here: Russia continues to supply many EU countries with gas
Germany was lured by the prospect of cheap gas, although the government under Angela Merkel should have realized that the political costs were prohibitively high. No decision in the past 20 years has damaged Germany’s reputation in Europe as badly as the pipeline deals with the Kremlin.
Now the tubes are broken – may they rest in peace. Germany’s energy partnership with Russia cannot be repaired without jeopardizing the cohesion of the EU. The explosions only physically repeated what had been politically broken once and for all with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
More: Nord Stream pipelines may have been destroyed by pro-Ukrainian saboteurs