According to a new report, German investigators are searching for clues that could implicate Ukraine in carrying out the mysterious blasts at the Nord Stream pipeline last September.
It comes despite suspected Russian naval activity in the area just days before the still-unexplained explosions on the pipelines being built to carry gas from Russia to Germany.
The September 26, 2022 explosions wreaked havoc on three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, which took 15 years to build, cutting the main energy link between Russia and the West.
Despite three ongoing investigations by Germany, Sweden and Denmark, no perpetrator has yet been identified.
Since the September explosions, the blame has been placed on the US, Russia, Ukrainian secret services and an unnamed businessman in Ukraine, but all three countries have vehemently denied responsibility.
German investigators are pursuing indications that Ukraine was responsible for carrying out the mysterious Nord Stream pipeline explosions last September. Pictured: a gas leak at Nord Stream 2
The explosions knocked out three of the four strands of the pipelines, essentially destroying the main energy link between Russia and the West
More recently, all eyes were on Russian naval activity in the Baltic Sea around the time of the explosions.
Reports in Denmark said a Russian submarine rescue vessel SS-750 was photographed at sea four days prior to the explosions.
The SS-750 has its own mini-submarine called the AS-26, which can reach a depth of 80 meters and carry loads of up to 50 kg.
However, some critics question why Vladimir Putin would have an interest in reducing Russian energy power over Europe by blowing up vital gas pipelines.
Others, on the other hand, argue that Russia may have wanted to send a warning signal to the West about the vulnerability of its crucial offshore gas pipelines.
They also argue that Moscow could hide behind a screen of plausible deniability by blowing up its own pipelines in the Baltic Sea – east of the Danish island of Bornholm.
The times reports that the Federal Office of Criminal Investigation (BKA) is now investigating new leads that could implicate Ukraine and exonerate Russia from any wrongdoing.
In fact, investigative journalists from Germany, Poland, Sweden and Denmark today claimed that the BKA was not convinced of any Russian sabotage after thoroughly investigating Moscow’s naval maneuvers around the site of the explosions.
German investigators have now turned their attention to the Andromeda (pictured) – a yacht charter by a Polish company from the northern German port city of Rostock, just weeks before the explosions occurred.
German investigators have now turned their attention to the Andromeda – a yacht chartered by a Polish company from the northern German port city of Rostock, just weeks before the explosions occurred.
Andromeda is said to have docked at Christianso marina – a small Danish island northeast of Bornholm and close to where the three bombs went off – in the days leading up to the sabotage.
The yacht was found with traces of ‘military and underwater deployable’ explosives.
The theory suggests that five men and women arrived in Germany with fake Bulgarian and Romanian passports before using the yacht as a base to deploy trained divers to plant the bombs about 70 meters below sea level.
According to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, German investigators claim that the attacks would have required help from state security services and claim to have found evidence that Ukraine could be involved.
The convoluted trail would lead to a shell company, a travel agency founded by two Ukrainians in Warsaw.
The yacht (pictured) was found with traces of ‘military and underwater deployable’ explosives
The report also suggests that German authorities selected two other Ukrainians, from the vicinity of Kiev and Odessa, as other members aboard the yacht. One of them, a 26-year-old man, is said to have previously served in the Ukrainian army.
Despite these theories emerging, security analysts have cast doubts on how such a complex operation could have been carried out by a small group on a small yacht without a submarine.
The latest inquiries into who carried out the Nord Stream blasts come as Ukraine and Russia battle over whether the devastated city of Bakhmut has been occupied by Moscow.
While Putin has congratulated the mercenary group Wagner and his Russian army on conquering the city in eastern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to deny that the city has been taken.