According to Welt am Sonntag, the attack was planned and carried out by a “Ukrainian group”. However, according to the newspaper, Russia is probably behind the attack.
The explosions of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022 were planned to take place even before Russia occupied the Crimean peninsula in 2014, says a German Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
The media bases its information on investigative information from international intelligence services.
According to the media, the attack was planned and carried out by a “Ukrainian group” and a ship named Andromeda was involved in the attacks.
Possibly a Russian operation
Having worked as Germany’s intelligence chief in 2011–2016 by Gerhard Schindler according to the evidence of the Ukrainian group’s involvement does not mean that Ukraine is behind the attack.
Schindler considers it likely that it was a so-called Russian staged attack.
In the past, investigations have revealed that the 15-meter sailing boat Andromeda was moving near the gas pipes during the explosions. It had a crew of six on board.
New York Times and Die Zeit reported last year about a group consisting of a captain, two divers, two assistants and a doctor, who moved in the Baltic Sea at the beginning of September in 2022.
At the end of September 2022, several leaks were detected in the gas pipelines running on the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
According to Welt am Sonntag, investigations have uncovered new evidence that confirms the involvement of the crew of the Andromeda sailboat in the attack.
Schindler believes that the crew of the boat deliberately left traces of their actions so that the finger of blame would turn on Ukraine.
Ukraine and Russia had a motive
There is still no confirmed information about the cause of the leak. Ukraine or Russia have been suspected of being behind the attack, as both had an interest in damaging the pipes.
In 2014, Nord Stream 1 had already been in use for more than two years. The construction of Nord Stream 2 was just being planned.
For years, Ukrainians opposed the construction of the Nord Stream pipelines because they allowed Russia to export gas directly to Europe and bypass the gas pipelines passing through Ukraine.
Russia, on the other hand, has used gas pipelines as a weapon against Western countries before.
The gas pipelines were damaged in the same year when Russia invaded Ukraine and Western countries introduced several sanctions against Russia.
Poland has evidence it does not want to hand over
According to Welt am Sonntag, a week before the explosion, Polish border guards inspected the Andromeda in Kolobrzeg.
According to information obtained by the newspaper, Poland has considered handing over the video recording of Andromeda to German researchers, but has not yet done so.
According to German media, one of the reasons for this is that, in addition to the Andromeda crew, the video recording may show Polish and American intelligence agents.
The first leaks were detected in the Nord Stream gas pipelines on September 26, 2022.
Swedish security police Sable stated in November 2023 that the explosions were the result of “gross sabotage”.
Sweden in February terminated Nord Stream -the investigation of the gas pipeline sabotage case.