Sabotage team used Poland base to blow up Baltic Nord Stream pipelines
German investigators are delving into evidence that suggests a sabotage team may have utilised Poland as a base to orchestrate the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea, according to the Wall Street Journal. The two-week journey of the Andromeda, a 15-metre yacht suspected to be involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, has been reconstructed by investigators.
Sources familiar with the voyage have indicated that the sabotage crew placed deep-sea explosives on Nord Stream 1 before directing the vessel towards Poland. Germany is currently attempting to match DNA samples discovered on the yacht to at least one Ukrainian soldier. The evidence collected includes data from the Andromeda’s radio and navigation equipment, satellite and mobile phones, and Gmail accounts allegedly used by the culprits.
“The details show that the boat sailed around each of the locations where the blasts later took place – evidence that fortified investigators’ belief that the Andromeda was instrumental in last year’s destruction of the pipeline,” the Wall Street Journal stated. The investigation into the vessel was initiated following a tip from a Western intelligence service.
The Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany and the Polish government spokesman have yet to respond to requests for comment. Stanislaw Zaryn, deputy to Poland’s minister coordinator of special services, took to Twitter to address the situation: “Information about Polish or Ukrainian clues in the destruction of NS1 and NS2, repeated in the media space, is consistently used by the Russian apparatus of influence to create the impression/presumption among the recipients that Warsaw and Kiev were behind this incident.”
The Nord Stream pipelines’ destruction has expedited the region’s shift to alternative energy suppliers, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which brought Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas into the political limelight. Earlier this week, the Washington Post revealed that the US government had been informed by a European intelligence agency of a clandestine plan by Ukraine’s military to attack the pipelines using divers. These divers reported directly to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces three months before the September 2022 explosions.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denied his government’s involvement in the sabotage of the gas pipelines, stating, “I am the president and I give orders accordingly. Nothing of the sort has been done by Ukraine. I would never act that way.” Zelenskyy has requested proof of Ukrainian involvement. In March, German media identified the potential involvement of a yacht from a Poland-based company owned by Ukrainian citizens in the attack.
