Nord Stream sabotage, here are the latest news
In Sweden the investigations into the attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipeline should be dropped, while they could be resumed in Germany.
Sensational developments in the investigations which should reveal who was behind the bombs that blew up the two pipes of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the waters of the Baltic Sea in September 2022. Not so much in terms of news on the discovery of authors and instigators, but in the progress of the proceedings. According to rumors in the German press, the investigations into the attacks on the gas pipeline should be closed in Sweden, while they could be resumed in Germany.
The website of the first German television network Ard and the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote this, on the basis of investigative research carried out by a German journalistic pool made up of the same editorial staff of Ard and Süddeutsche Zeitung and the weekly Die Zeit . German prosecutors could therefore now take advantage of this, Ard adds.
On Monday 5 February, the spokesperson for the Stockholm prosecutor's office Mats Ljungvist told the Swedish media that new developments regarding the investigation were imminent, without however specifying a date for the communications. This morning the Swedish prosecutor's office clarified that the communications will be made known tomorrow 7 February.
But in the meantime, the rumors in the German press seem to remove any suspense from the Swedish declarations. According to research carried out by the pool of journalists from German newspapers, the Swedish authorities are in fact planning to interrupt the investigations into the attacks on Nord Stream. The exact reasons are not yet known.
Since the Nord Stream pipes in the Baltic Sea were blown up in September 2022, the Swedish Security Police has been investigating the possibility of serious sabotage, as one of the pipes also passes through the Swedish economic zone.
But the filing in Sweden will not mean the end of the investigations. According to what the German media report, in fact, the investigation should continue in Germany, where the federal attorney general has already long since commissioned the Federal Criminal Police Office ( Bka ) and the federal police.
Indeed, German prosecutors could now benefit from the closure of the Swedish investigation, Ard observes. The Swedish authorities could in fact pass on their evidence to their German colleagues for analysis. Sweden would therefore renounce its claim to prosecute and support the German proceedings.
Initially, the countries bordering the Baltic Sea carried out separate investigations and did not share all their findings. Access to the Swedish evidence is therefore an important step for German investigators. Investigators from the BKA and the German Federal Police are particularly interested in parts of the pipelines that were severely damaged and seized by the Swedish army shortly after the explosions in autumn 2022. Meanwhile, Denmark is also carrying out its own investigations.
German investigators want to compare the traces of explosives found on the pipes with those found on the sailing boat Andromeda. According to local investigators, the ship is still the hottest lead that could lead to the attackers.
According to what has been ascertained so far by German prosecutors, the Andromeda was chartered or at least paid for by a Polish company in September 2022. A crew, presumably made up of five men and a woman, set sail from Rostock on board the yacht, and it is thought that it may have been a team of divers who placed explosive devices on the Nord Stream pipes. Suspicion falls on Ukrainian citizens. The vessel reportedly made several stops, including on the Danish island of Christiansø, Sandhamn, Sweden, and Kolberg, Poland.
The Swedish and German prosecutors have always collaborated in recent months, exchanging information, while little or nothing has come from the Polish investigators. German newspapers recall that Andromeda made at least one stopover in Kolberg, Poland, during its tour of the Baltic Sea and that the crew would have been monitored by the Polish coast guard. The requests of the German investigators, however, have fallen almost on deaf ears: to date the Polish authorities have not provided images from the port's surveillance cameras that could show further information on the Andromeda's crew.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/sabotaggio-nord-stream-ecco-le-ultime-novita/ on Wed, 07 Feb 2024 06:14:33 +0000.