German investigators are examining evidence that a team of saboteurs used Poland as a base of operations to damage Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September, the Wall Street Journal reported.
German investigators fully imagined the two-week voyage of the yacht Andromeda, a 15-meter white yacht suspected of involvement in damaging pipelines that transport Russian gas supplies to Europe.
According to the Wall Street Journal, investigators indicated that the yacht deviated from its destination in Polish waters, based on data from transmitters and navigation devices in Andromeda, as well as mobile phone and satellite data, Gmail accounts and DNA samples that were on board, which Germany attempted to match with the DNA of at least one Ukrainian soldier.
Neither the German Federal Criminal Police Office nor the executive office of the Polish prime minister responded to requests from Reuters for comment.
Last week, the Washington Post reported that the United States learned of a Ukrainian plan to attack pipelines three months before underwater explosions damaged them.
Three months before the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline was bombed, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a secret attack on this undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the Ukrainian commander-in-chief, according to the Washington Post.
Details about the plan, which hadn’t been previously reported, were collected by a European intelligence service and shared with the CIA in June 2022.
The Washington Post reported that a European intelligence service collected details about the plan, which hadn’t been previously reported, and shared them with the CIA in June 2022.
These details provide the most specific evidence yet linking the government of Ukraine to the attack in the Baltic Sea, which US and Western officials described as a nasty and dangerous act of sabotage on Europe’s energy infrastructure.
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured German media that Ukraine hadn’t attacked Nord Stream pipelines.
Zelensky said in an interview with the German Bild newspaper that, as the country’s president, he has the authority to issue orders.
“I have never done anything like that, I would never have done that,” he said.
“I think our military and intelligence services did nothing of the sort,” the Ukrainian president said, adding, “I would like to see evidence”.
Zelensky stressed, “we don’t know about it” at all.
The explosions took place in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, and the two countries say that the bombings were deliberate, but they have not yet identified those responsible.
In March, German media reported that a yacht belonging to a Ukrainian-owned Poland-based company may have been involved in the attack.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, designed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany, suffered underwater explosions on Sept. 26, putting them out of service and depriving Russia of potential billions of dollars in revenue.
The operation, which appeared to be sabotage, sparked a state of emergency at the regional level, as it cut off basic energy resources from Europe, while oil prices rose dramatically as a result of the war.
