Multiple German media allegations that a Ukrainian special forces squad blew up the Nord Stream pipelines by renting a yacht and travelling across the Baltic Sea have been rejected by a senior Polish official. The claimed team of military divers, according to Stanislaw Zaryn, secretary of state at the Prime Minister’s Chancellery in Poland, are ‘tourists.’
He was speaking to ARD TV, which, along with Die Zeit, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and several other outlets, investigated the September explosion that damaged two gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany.
The investigation focused on a yacht titled Andromeda, allegedly chartered by a team of saboteurs several weeks before the blasts. Several members of the team are said to be Ukrainian, and the charter price was paid.
According to the official, the excursion had a “purely touristic character.” “There was nobody in the group who had anything close to military or sabotage-related training.”
According to the journalists, an investigative team discovered evidence of HMX on the yacht in January 2023 – the same explosive identified at the attack sites.
According to the reporters, the first rumours of the intended sabotage were picked up by a Dutch intelligence official, who warned his superiors that a commando unit of six persons disguised as scuba divers was planning to blow up the pipeline.
According to the officer’s source, while Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky was unaware of the impending attack, the unit was reporting to Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander Valery Zaluzhny. The CIA is reported to have been given information regarding the attack. It was supposed to take place on June 19, but it did not take place on that date.
While the media conglomerate’s investigation points to a Ukrainian role in the sabotage, American journalist Seymour Hersh blamed the attack on the US, which he said wanted to force Germany to take a hard line against Russia amid the Ukraine conflict. Moscow officials have also repeatedly blamed the West for the explosion.
