A year later, the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines remains a mystery. The pipelines linking Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea, intended to supply Europe with Russian gas, were, on September 26, 2022, hit by underwater explosions which led to several methane leaks offshore from the Danish island of Bornholm, in the territorial waters of Sweden and Denmark.
On the occasion of the first anniversary, Norwegian scientists from the Norwegian Seismic Array (Norsar) investigating this enigma shared new elements with the British daily The Guardian. According to them, the previously mentioned scenario of two explosions on Nord Stream 1 and 2 must be called into question. Their analysis of data from German, Swedish and Danish seismic stations, integrated into their sensor network, shows that two more explosions took place in an area northeast of the island of Bornholm, approximately seven seconds and sixteen seconds later the two first. According to Norsar, the data recorded by seismic stations could contain traces of additional explosions.
Norsar is a foundation established in 1968 for the detection of earthquakes and nuclear explosions under the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. According to the British newspaper, its sensors can detect nuclear tests in North Korea ten minutes after the explosion, with a location accuracy of 150 to 200 meters.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, the organization has continuously monitored the bombings around the Chernobyl power plant. In June, Norsar scientists were able to confirm the time of the two explosions that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam using data from seismic stations in Romania and Ukraine.
Multiplicity of leads, caution from investigators
However, Norsar’s analysis does not provide any clearer insight into the origin of the explosions and the identity of the perpetrators of the sabotage. Over the past year, the Danish, Swedish and German authorities have communicated little about their progress in this area.
Very quickly after the event, Russia tried to clear itself: Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, believed that it was “very difficult to imagine that such a terrorist act could take place without the involvement of ‘one state’, while the Russian Defense Ministry accused the UK of having ‘directed and coordinated’ the sabotage. Washington also denied being behind the sabotage, in response to accusations by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who claimed that US Navy divers, helped by Norway, had planted explosives on these gas pipelines in June , triggering them three months later.
Several international media have taken up the matter and are offering leads. In March, the New York Times wrote in a very cautious article – based on US intelligence information – that a “pro-Ukrainian group” could be behind the sabotage. According to the daily, President Volodymyr Zelensky was not involved. In June, the Washington Post assured that an intelligence agency of a European country had warned the Central Intelligence Agency in the United States in June 2022 that Ukrainian special forces intended to sabotage the Nord Stream gas pipeline. In the process, the United States would have warned its allies, notably Germany.
These revelations from the Washington Post extend Spiegel’s analysis. According to the German magazine, the operation was carried out by a team of divers who left from Rostock, Germany, aboard a rental yacht bound for the German island of Rügen, then the Danish island of Christianso, near the explosion sites. In an interview broadcast in June by the German channel Welt-TV and the magazine Bild, Volodymyr Zelensky affirmed that Ukraine had nothing to do with these explosions.
But the Ukrainian track is not the only one. Several Scandinavian media outlets, the German news site T-Online and Oliver Alexander, a Danish open-source intelligence specialist, reported the presence of Russian ships participating in Baltic Fleet maneuvers in the area of the explosions. The Danish daily Information thus discusses the potential role of the SS-750, a Russian ship specializing in underwater operations, capable of transporting a mini-submarine, photographed by a Danish ship in the Bornholm area, four days before the explosions.
The Danish, Swedish and German authorities refuse to comment on the progress of their respective investigations. In an interview with Spiegel on August 25, Nancy Faeser, the German Interior Minister, said she hoped that German justice would find enough evidence to indict the perpetrator(s) of the attack. Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor leading the investigation for Sweden, said in April that the “main hypothesis is that a state is behind this sabotage.” He was quoted by Reuters: “We hope to conclude the investigation shortly, but there is still a lot to do and nothing will happen in the next four weeks. » Before adding that their objective was to reach a decision before the end of the year.
