Exuberant party, determination to defend one’s homeland and the approval of the Ukrainian president. According to the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, this is what the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines leading from Russia to Germany looked like. According to the newspaper, Ukrainian intelligence and a team of a few experienced divers are behind the event. The German authorities have already issued a European arrest warrant for one of them, but the divers are back in Ukraine and Ukraine will probably not extradite them.
Washington
16:09 August 15, 2024 Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address Copy to clipboard
Leaks from Nord Stream gas pipelines | Photo: Handout/AFP/Profimedia
May 2022, three months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. A group of several Ukrainian military officials and businessmen celebrate the surprising success of Ukraine’s resistance to Russia, reminds The Wall Street Journal.
Everyone thought that Ukraine would succumb to Russian aggression in a few days, while it has been successfully resisting the much stronger Russian army for three months. According to witnesses, this group of influential people, fueled by alcohol and also by patriotism, come up with a plan – to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Gas is leaking from Nord Stream. Sweden and Denmark have seen massive underwater explosions in places
Read the article
A pair of gas pipelines leading from Russia to Germany generated billions of dollars with which the Kremlin financed the war machine, and the Ukrainians wanted to cut off this flow of money.
Fast forward to September 26, 2022. Swedish seismologists record an underwater earthquake near the Danish island of Bornholm. The tremors were not caused by an earthquake, but by three huge explosions that destroyed gas pipelines and caused pollution similar to what all of Denmark generates in a year. According to The Wall Street Journal, the secret operation of the Ukrainian services led to the worsening of the energy crisis in Europe, triggered months earlier by Russian aggression in Ukraine.
As for the course of the operation, one of the secret sources told the American newspaper that he had to laugh when he read in the media about how submarines, drones, satellites and the like must have been involved in the operation. According to him, the whole idea was really born at a wild party of people who had enough courage and simply wanted to defend their country.
The architects of the operation, including the former commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, originally studied an older plan from 2014 that had the same goal. But they rejected it because it was too expensive. This operation cost less than seven million crowns.
Operation progress
Ukraine sent a small sailboat and six people to the event – several soldiers and civilians with many years of experience in diving to tens of meters. Let us remind you that the gas pipelines lie at the bottom of the Baltic Sea up to 80 meters under water.
Sabotage is behind the gas leak from the Nord Stream, Swedish investigators have discovered remnants of explosives
Read the article
In September 2022, they rented a yacht in Rostock, Germany. One of them is an active military officer and an experienced captain, the other four are deep-sea divers. The crew included a woman, an experienced diver, who was supposed to give the impression that it was a friendly vacation.
The crew had only diving equipment, satellite navigation, sonar and a map where the gas pipelines are located. According to the investigation, the divers worked in pairs, had to dive into the icy and dark waters of the cold sea, while carrying an explosive – octogen – connected to a time-controlled detonator.
A small amount of this explosive was enough to destroy the gas pipelines. After twenty minutes at this depth, they had to surface for three hours to avoid injury. The whole operation was almost ruined by bad weather – but eventually the storm stopped and the divers could go into action.
Efforts to stop the action
Zaluzhny was responsible for the entire event, which, by the way, was approved by President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to the American newspaper. Zelensky initially gave the go-ahead for sabotage, but soon the American CIA learned about the Ukrainian plan and alerted other European intelligence agencies. Zelenskyj backed out of the event and told Zalužný that he had to stop the event.
The Germans issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diver in connection with the Nord Stream explosion
Read the article
According to the newspaper’s sources, Zaluzhny disagreed and said that the operations team could no longer be contacted. Zaluzhnyi reportedly said that such an action is like a torpedo and once it starts, it cannot be stopped. According to the newspaper, the Ukrainians who participated in the sabotage or planned it believe that they will avoid any prosecution.
The divers themselves, who are being investigated by the German police and have issued a European arrest warrant for one of them, are already in Ukraine, and Ukraine will not extradite them, according to the Wall Street Journal. In addition, the investigators do not even have any direct evidence that Ukraine is really behind the action. In addition, the leaders of the Ukrainian military and business agreed face to face on the entire plan.
Ukrainian officials who participated in or are familiar with the sabotage believe it will be virtually impossible to bring any of the ringleaders to justice. There is no evidence of preparations other than conversations between the highest-ranking officials.
Share on Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Copy the url address
Abbreviated address Copy to clipboard
