Brussels New evidence supports suspicions that the blasting of the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022 could have been the work of Ukrainian saboteurs. As the Washington Post reports, three months before the explosions on the Baltic Sea floor, US authorities received a detailed warning from a European secret service that a small team of combat divers was preparing a bomb attack. As a result, the Americans are said to have informed the federal government.
According to the Washington Post, it has a document from the American intelligence services that summarizes findings about the attack plan. US National Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who has since been charged, is said to have shared the document with hundreds of other secret documents in a private chat group on the online platform Discord. The Washington Post has secured access to many of these documents and is publishing a series of articles on the intelligence leak.
The warning of the attack plan coincides with the leads that the federal prosecutor is pursuing. The German investigators have identified a sailing boat that is said to be connected to the attack. An excerpt of the search warrant, which is available to the Handelsblatt, shows that the investigators tracked the Nord Stream saboteurs back to the sailing yacht Andromeda (“call sign DK7033”) and “Mola Yachting GmbH”.
The status of the investigation so far can be summarized as follows: At the beginning of September 2022, several men and possibly a woman set sail with the Andromeda. Apparently there were experienced divers on board who could attach several explosive charges to the Nord Stream pipelines – at a depth of 70 to 80 meters. Traces of explosives are said to have been found on board the sailing ship.
The explosions occurred on September 26 southeast and northeast of the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. One leg of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was never commissioned, and both legs of the older Nord Stream pipeline were ruptured and large amounts of gas were released.
Kiev’s relationship with Germany could be seriously damaged
The authorities in Denmark and Sweden quickly ruled out an accident. According to experts, underwater photographs of the explosion sites indicated that explosives were attached to the concrete-coated pipes from the outside.
>> Read here: What lessons NATO draws from the puzzle
It is still unclear whether the saboteurs acted on their own or on behalf of the Ukrainian government. A “false flag operation” in which the perpetrators set the wrong track to blame Ukraine is also not excluded.
However, the Discord leak now supports the thesis that the Ukrainian leadership could be implicated in the attack. According to the secret information, the squad was said to have been under the command of the Ukrainian armed forces. If this is confirmed, Kiev’s relationship with Europe – and Germany in particular – could be seriously damaged.
Nord Stream attack could overshadow EU accession negotiations
Immediately after the detonations, NATO spoke of “deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage”. At the time, there were still many indications that Russia had blown up the pipes itself in order to exacerbate the energy crisis in Europe.
Western diplomats confirmed to the Handelsblatt that the trace to Ukraine is considered credible. Officially, however, no one wants to comment on the political explosiveness. Ukraine depends on Western military aid and financial transfers to defend itself against Russian war of aggression.
At the same time, the government in Kiev is aiming for EU and NATO membership. In Brussels it is expected that the EU Commission will recommend starting accession negotiations this year. The talks were overshadowed by growing suspicions that Ukraine was implicated in the most devastating attack on an energy infrastructure in Europe since the end of World War II.
Kiev has always denied reports of involvement
For years, Ukraine has fought the Nord Stream pipelines politically because they could be used to bypass the Ukrainian pipeline network. The pipes gave Russia the opportunity to blackmail Ukraine without jeopardizing its lucrative business relationship with Europe.
With the sheer imperialist aggression against the neighboring country, however, Moscow has destroyed the energy partnership with Europe. Even before the Nord Stream attack, Russia had stopped supplying it to discourage Europe from supporting Ukraine. Plans were made in Brussels and Berlin to permanently cut ties with Russian gas.
Why Ukraine should have ordered the blasting of pipelines that were already an investment ruin is one of the great remaining mysteries. The government in Kiev has repeatedly vehemently denied reports of possible involvement.
A statement from Ukraine, Russia, the CIA and the USA on the new report was initially not available. Bruno Kahl, head of the Federal Intelligence Service, had dampened hopes of a quick clarification in May and stated that there were indications “in all possible directions”.
More on this: Will the mystery of the sabotage ever be solved?