Russian ships visited the vicinity of the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosion site at least twice in June. The last visit to the area was just less than a week before the explosions in September 2022.
In one case, a Russian ship remained near the explosion site for almost a day.
Russian ships moved in the area with their AIS positioning devices turned off. However, four broadcasting companies, i.e. Denmark’s DR, Norway’s NRK, Sweden’s SVT and , were able to track the ships’ movements using radio communication. Information was also verified by acquiring satellite images.
According to experts, the observations are a significant addition to understanding the events preceding the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
– This is interesting information that gives a convincing picture of Russia’s secret activities near gas pipelines in the period before the attacks, says HI Sutton. He is an independent naval analyst and expert on Russian underwater warfare.
Wandered around the Nord Stream
Russian radio communications were monitored by a British naval intelligence officer, who until a few years ago was working, among other things, on monitoring the Russian Baltic Sea fleet. He is no longer on active duty.
It appears from the radio communication that on June 6 of last year, a ship of the Russian Navy sailed from the Kaliningrad naval base to the east of Bornholm, where it arrived on the morning of June 7.
The ship spent several hours near or even on the spot where Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pass on the seabed at a depth of about 80 meters. Based on the information provided by the Danish authorities, three of the four leaks that came into the pipe due to the explosion happened at these points.
The Nordic broadcasting companies were not able to define precisely which ship was involved in the case described above. However, according to a British former naval intelligence officer, it was a ship that was connected to the command center of the Russian fleet in Kaliningrad. The ship used a military frequency for its communications.
The next ship visited the exact same place
The next sighting of a Russian navy ship is a week later, on June 14, 2022. The ship remained in the area until the next day.
According to a former British naval intelligence officer, this vessel was most likely the 86-meter Russian naval research vessel Sibiryakov. It is based in Lomonosov, near St. Petersburg. It does not normally move in the Baltic Sea in the area in question.
According to experts, Sibiryakov is intended for seabed mapping and underwater reconnaissance.
– It has a crane that can be used to lower objects into the water, says the naval officer and researcher Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen from the University of Copenhagen.
According to him, the June observation may be a kind of preliminary mapping, for which Sibiryakov was responsible.
– This is a research vessel that has been used to conduct a survey that took place as early as June.
Sibiryakov was also found in satellite images
Together with the Norwegian satellite image company KSAT, DR, NRK, SVT and have studied satellite images of key places and times. The company specializes in the search for shipping traffic without location data.
The start and end of Sibiryakov’s June route have been recorded with high-quality satellite images. Part of the route has been documented using radar images and low-resolution satellite images.
Project manager Tony Bauna KSAT has identified nine possible images of Sibiryakov. They correspond to places and times on the route revealed by the ship’s radio traffic.
KSAT has therefore measured the length of the ships in the area and to some extent was also able to interpret the movements of the ships. KSAT has compared this data with other available data and excluded from the survey the vessels that had the AIS signal on.
What remains are ships that “moved in the dark” and do not share their location data.
One of the pictures was taken in the morning of June 15, when Sibiryakov was in the area of the northern leakage sites, according to the ship’s own radio messages. The image shows two ships that did not share their location data. They were a few hundred meters and a few kilometers away from the later leak sites.
– I found two vessels that do not send an AIS signal. They don’t seem to move, but stay in place, and they don’t have a wake, says Tony Bauna.
The delivery does not have more detailed information about the other ship.
The third observation in the days before the explosions
The SB-123 belonging to the Russian Baltic Fleet arrived in the area of the explosion sites on September 21 last year, i.e. five days before the explosions.
– It is a ship that is used as a support and rescue ship in submarine operations. It has a crane with considerable lifting power and is capable of lifting goods from the seabed. It can also launch a miniature submarine into the sea, says Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen.
According to radio communications, the SB-123 tugboat arrived in the Bornholm area near the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the evening of September 21. It remained in the area until the following afternoon. A radio signal from the ship was also received on the morning of the 22nd. Gas pipe leaks were discovered four days later.
It has also been possible to document the ship’s movements by following its route to the extent that it kept its AIS device on when leaving and returning to the base.
In April, the leadership of the Danish Defense Forces confirmed to the Information magazine that the SS-750 of the Russian Navy was also seen near the leak sites on September 22. It is equipped with a mini-submarine.
Experts: no coincidence
The experts interviewed by the Nordic broadcasting companies do not believe that the presence of Russian ships can be explained by, for example, participation in exercises.
Russian underwater warfare expert HI Sutton doesn’t think it’s a coincidence either.
– These findings provide convincing evidence that they are connected to the Nord Stream events.
Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen also finds the findings interesting.
– If the Russians are revealed to be the perpetrators (of sabotage), then they seem to have collected information, mapped the target of the operation precisely and placed the explosives with the help of their ships.
According to HI Sutton, whoever is behind the Nord Stream strike benefited from the uncertainty surrounding it.
– Many people filled this gap with their own theories or prejudices, and that is why it is important to get more documented information like this.
A group of Nordic journalists have investigated Russia’s intelligence activities. The third part of the documentary series can be seen at Areena.
Several theories have been put forward
The sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines has attracted international attention and initiated heated discussions in the UN Security Council, where Russia has repeatedly demanded an international investigation into the matter.
Several theories have been put forward in the public about who was behind the sabotage and how it was carried out. In the days after the explosion, the President of Russia Vladimir Putin said in his speech that the “Anglo-Saxons” are behind it.
Later an American journalist By Seymour Hersh the article he wrote spread around the world. The article was based on an anonymous source. It claimed that the United States, in cooperation with Norway, had planned and carried out the destruction of the gas pipeline under the cover of NATO’s BALTOPS 22 exercise. However, no credible source material has been presented to support the claims.
In March 2023, the theory was presented in the German media that a pro-Ukraine group of six might have been behind the sabotage. However, the German government has announced that hints referring to Ukraine may turn out to be part of a so-called “false flag” operation to mislead.
The German media T-Online has previously reported on the SB-123 vessel mentioned in this story as well. The newspaper had received information from German intelligence sources, according to which the ship’s movements have been investigated in connection with the Nord Stream sabotage.
None of the countries investigating sabotage have yet presented results or conclusions.
The Russian government has been asked about the preliminary observations from June and September through its embassy in Copenhagen. No answer has been received from there as to why the ships have moved in the area.