Germany conducts ship search linked to Nordstream bombing suspicion

After the press reports released in the past few hours on the involvement of a Ukrainian group in the explosions of lines 1 and 2 Nordstream to transport Russian gas in Germany, last September the German authorities officially resolved the matter.

And the prosecutor announced today, Wednesday, that German investigators detained and inspected a vessel last January, possibly in relation to sabotage operations involving gas pipelines, e in notably the delivery of explosives used at the site in the Baltic Sea, reported Agence France-Presse. .

However, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has clarified that it is still investigating the ownership of the vessel and the motives of the party involved.

The Ukrainians took it over

And the newspaper “Die Zeit” revealed yesterday, Tuesday, in an inquiry in exclusive with German Channel 1, which German investigators found in the bottom of the Baltic Sea the vessel that was used to trap the Nord Stream oil pipelines, which had been leased by two Ukrainians from a company in Poland.

However, he indicated that investigators have not yet found the party that ordered the implementation of the trap operation.

Also, a Western official revealed yesterday that governments investigating the bombing have found prove that pro-Ukrainian individuals or entities discussed the possibility of carrying out an attack on the Nord Stream pipelines before the explosion. He explained that those communications weren’t discovered until after the attack when Western spy agencies began searching for possible prove in intelligence data.

These data prompted Russia to renew its request to open an urgent and transparent investigation into the case, renewing its accusations against the West.

While Kiev has denied any involvement in those operations.

deliberate attack

Interestingly, Sweden and Denmark, in which the explosions took place in their exclusive economic zones, had previously concluded, following their investigations, that the pipelines had been deliberately blown up in air, but have not determined who was responsible, after four major leaks were detected last September, in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 lines off the Danish island of Bornholm, two in Swedish economic waters and two others in Danish waters.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, the two gas pipelines connecting Russia to Germany have been at the center of geopolitical tensions after Moscow’s decision to cut off gas supplies to Europe in response to the Western sanctions imposed on it, due to the military operation it launched on the territory of the western neighbor on February 24th.