Planning behind Nord Stream attacks questioned after new intel
The attack on the three strands of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines was planned since 2014, writes "Welt am Sonntag," citing, among others, data from German intelligence services. At the same time, as we read, investigators doubt the credibility of the version involving a "Ukrainian group" in the attack on the pipelines.
Gerhard Schindler, who headed German intelligence from 2011 to 2016, said that evidence pointing to the involvement of a "Ukrainian group" in the September 2022 attacks does not mean that Ukraine was behind the explosions.
Was the attack on Nord Stream planned as early as 2014?
As we read, in the summer of 2023, Polish intelligence provided Germany with information about individuals who might be linked to the attack and allegedly "have connections to Moscow." Among them were members of the Andromeda yacht crew who held Russian citizenship.
In 2023, the media, citing investigators, wrote that the perpetrators of the explosion rented the Andromeda yacht using forged documents and installed explosive devices on the pipelines with deep-sea equipment. There were six people on board.
According to "Welt am Sonntag," a week before the explosions, the yacht was in Kołobrzeg. It was reported that the Polish side has not yet handed over to German investigators the video recordings made during the inspection of the yacht. The newspaper cites the possible presence of American and Polish agents in the footage as the reason.
A separate issue is the date of the attack plan for NS and NS II. These plans in Ukraine reportedly appeared before Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014. However, it is unknown whether they were connected to the events of fall 2022.
The explosions of Nord Stream 1 and the unfinished Nord Stream 2 occurred on September 26, 2022, in the Baltic Sea. Denmark and Sweden, which conducted investigations into the matter, have closed their proceedings. German law enforcement continues its investigation.
