According to media reports, German investigative authorities have apparently made a breakthrough when investigating the blasting of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Traces of the act of sabotage led to Ukraine, reported “Die Zeit” and ARD, citing the results of the investigation. The group of perpetrators used a boat rented from a company owned by two Ukrainians.
“Zeit” reported on its website that joint research with the ARD capital studio, the ARD political magazine “Kontraste” and the SWR had shown that German investigative authorities had largely reconstructed how and when the bomb attack on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines was prepared. Accordingly, they identified the boat that was allegedly used for the secret operation on the night of September 26, 2022.
According to the report, the yacht was rented from a company based in Poland. The company apparently belongs to two Ukrainians. According to the investigation, five men and one woman were involved in the blast. The group consisted of a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a doctor.
According to “Zeit” and ARD, the team had professionally forged passports, which are said to have been used to rent the boat, among other things. The command set sail from Rostock on September 6, 2022. The equipment for the secret operation had previously been brought to the port in a delivery truck.
According to media research, the investigators subsequently managed to locate the boat the following day in Wieck am Darß and later on the Danish island of Christiansö. After the yacht was returned uncleaned, investigators found traces of explosives on the table in the cabin. According to the research, the investigators found no evidence of who commissioned the Nord Stream destruction.
The ARD said that international security circles could not rule out that tracks could have been deliberately laid in order to portray Ukraine as the author. However, the investigators apparently have no evidence of such a so-called false flag action.
The “New York Times” (“NYT”) reports that, according to the US government, a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the bomb attack. According to several anonymous US government officials, citing new intelligence information, Ukrainian or Russian citizens are probably responsible. There are no indications of an involvement of the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj or his close circle.
A spokeswoman for the federal government said on request that the federal government had taken note of the “NYT” report. Germany, Sweden and Denmark informed the UN Security Council a few days ago that their “investigations are ongoing and there are still no results”.
The US foreign intelligence service CIA did not want to comment on the “NYT” report. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said when asked that the investigations by Germany, Sweden and Denmark were not yet complete and he did not want to prejudge the results.
During a visit to Stockholm, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg agreed that it was “not right to speculate until the ongoing investigations have been completed”.
In September, the explosions caused several leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark in the Baltic Sea, which were built to transport Russian gas to Germany. The pipelines were not operating at the time of the explosions but contained gas. According to Sweden, explosive residues were detected.
Russia itself was suspected of being behind the alleged sabotage. The Russian government firmly denied this and pointed the finger at Washington. The US government had condemned the construction of Nord Stream 2 as a geopolitical leverage of the Kremlin.
At the beginning of February, the well-known US investigative reporter Seymour Hersh caused a sensation with a report according to which US Navy divers had already planted explosive devices on the gas pipelines in June. These were remotely detonated in September. The US government has firmly denied this. Independent fact-checkers have pointed out inconsistencies in the Hersh report.
Sources: AFP, “New York Times”, “Zeit”, ARD
