Lon one Report of the “New York Times” A “pro-Ukrainian group” is said to be responsible for the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines last September. In its report, the well-known US newspaper refers to unnamed American officials who are said to have received new intelligence information about the attacks.
However, there is no evidence whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or his close confidants were involved. It is also unclear whether the perpetrators acted on behalf of Ukrainian government officials at all.
Since the explosions that destroyed three of the four tubes of Nord Stream 1 and 2 last fall, there has been speculation as to who was behind the attacks. Russia, Ukraine, the USA and Great Britain have all been named by various parties as potential perpetrators of acts of sabotage at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
According to one further report of the ARD and the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” investigators are said to have succeeded in identifying a specific boat with which the attacks are said to have been carried out. It was therefore a yacht that is said to have been rented by a company in Poland. It is said to belong to two Ukrainians.
Well-forged passports are said to have been used for the rental, so the nationality of the perpetrators is apparently unclear. However, it is said to have been a group of five men and one woman. According to the ARD/Zeit report, the group consisted of a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a doctor.
According to the report, the group set sail from Rostock on September 6 last year. The boat is said to have been localized the next day in Wieck (Darß) and later on the Danish island of Christiansø northeast of Bornholm. According to the information from ARD and “Zeit”, the yacht is said to have been returned uncleaned, and the investigators found traces of explosives on the table in the cabin. According to the report, the investigators also do not completely rule out a so-called “false flag” operation, although there is said to be no evidence of this so far. A “false flag” operation deliberately misleads other potential suspects.
It is unclear who ordered and financed the operation
The New York Times report acknowledges that many questions remain unanswered, including for the US officials who serve as the source for the article. According to the new secret service findings, the perpetrators are said to have been a group of opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, it is still unclear who ordered or financed the operation. The US officials also did not tell the reporters what kind of intelligence information they were basing their new findings on. There are no final results yet.
According to the New York Times, the Americans believe that the perpetrators were Ukrainians or Russians or a group with representatives of both nationalities. Americans or British were not involved. According to the intelligence information, the explosives were installed “with the help of experienced divers” who “apparently did not work for the military or intelligence services”. However, it is possible that the saboteurs received special training from a government organization in the past.
A few weeks ago, the US was accused of sabotage
According to the “New York Times”, the American sources do not agree on how reliable the new information is. The newspaper writes that spokesmen for the CIA, the White House and several affected European governments did not want to comment on the report.
had a few weeks ago a report by the American journalist Seymour Hersh caused a stir. In a long blog post, Hersh blamed the United States for the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. However, he gave no evidence to support this claim. The fact that the USA could be behind the attacks is not only justified in Hersh’s contribution with statements by US President Biden before the start of the Ukraine war.
When asked if Russia invaded Ukraine would permanently prevent Nord Stream 2 from being operational, Biden said, “If Russia invades, meaning tanks and troops cross the border into Ukraine again, Nord Stream 2 will no longer exist.” , said the US President. “We will end it.”
Denmark, Sweden and Germany have each launched investigations into the acts of sabotage. The investigations in Germany are not yet complete. The “New York Times” quotes the Swedish investigator Mats Ljungqvist, according to which the investigation of the Scandinavians is still ongoing.
“It’s my job to find those who blew up Nord Stream, I have our country’s intelligence agency for that,” Ljungqvist said. “Do I think it was Russia that blew up Nord Stream? I never believed that. It’s not logical. But like in a murder case, you have to keep an open mind to all possibilities.”
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