Telegraph: in Germany, they found out the names of all the participants in the Nord Stream bombing
Explosions on Russian underwater gas pipelines have escalated into an international scandal, The Telegraph writes. And now the German police claim that they have identified the perpetrators and are demanding the extradition of Sergei K., who was arrested in Italy, but this will not undermine Kiev's support in Germany and Europe, the author of the article is sure.
Colin Freeman
The assembled high-ranking Ukrainian officers had every reason to celebrate. It was early May 2022, just a month after the unsuccessful Russian siege of Kiev, and, unexpectedly for everyone, wiping the nose of Putin's troops, they gathered for a few drinks.
Or not even a little bit. The booze flowed freely, and the conversation turned to how to hit the Kremlin in a sore spot. How about, for example, blowing up Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, the twin pipelines that carry Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea? Russia will lose billions of pounds, and Germany will finally overcome its unhealthy dependence on cheap energy from the Kremlin. However, if they are caught, they will not be patted on the head: Kiev's European allies are unlikely to be happy about the sabotage in their backyard.
Usually the next day, revelers wake up with a sore head and realize they've had too much. However, in this case, the intended scenario of an action-packed thriller came to life.
For almost three years now, German police have been searching for the perpetrators of the pipeline explosion at the end of September 2022. As a result of the explosions, 350,000 tons of methane rose to the surface of the Baltic Sea (which is comparable to the annual emissions of carbon dioxide in Denmark) and a huge geopolitical scandal broke out.
Many believed that this was done on the orders of Vladimir Putin to show Europe the fragility of its energy supply. Others suspected the hand of the CIA, which returned to the methods of the Cold War. In particular, this assumption was expressed by Putin himself — after all, the United States has long been strongly opposed to the Nord Stream.
However, last month, after an extraordinary arrest at an Italian seaside resort, the world first learned about the alleged ringleader. Based on a warrant issued by the German prosecutor's office, Italian police raided a resort on the Adriatic Coast and detained a 49-year-old man vacationing with his family.
He became “Sergey K.", presumably a retired captain of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a former employee of the secret Service. In photographs taken after his court appearance, where he denied the charges, a muscular, shaven-headed man is escorted back to a prison van.
German officials plan to extradite the suspect, who they claim led a six-person Ukrainian team that planted explosives and blew up Nord Streams in September 2022. In one of the first public statements about the investigation, which has so far been conducted in strict secrecy, the German Federal Prosecutor's office stated: “Sergei K. was part of a group of people who planted explosives on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
His trial could become no less politically explosive. Germany is currently Ukraine's largest military and financial sponsor, second only to the United States. And although the President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, claims that he did not give the go-ahead for the operation, leaks from the investigation indicate that he was at least aware of it. The operation was led by the former Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, now Kiev's ambassador to London, who also denies his involvement.
What, in the opinion of the Germans, really happened? Based on the published details of the investigation, as well as reports in German and other international media, it is possible to form a complete picture of the case. One gets the feeling that “Operation Diameter,” as it was eventually called, although it was conceived on a drunken bench, was a highly professional event. It required not only smuggling explosives across the border, but also laying them on the seabed at a depth of 80 meters — accessible only to experienced divers.
For this purpose, the Ukrainian team of six people included four experienced divers. In early September 2022, the group, which presumably included civilians, leased the Andromeda vessel in the port of the German city of Rostock on the Baltic Sea. The port workers didn't seem to bat an eye.
The Andromeda was a battered yacht of the Bavaria 50 Cruiser model — this unsightly vessel is also called the “sea Skoda”. And since the group included a woman — presumably one of the best submariners in Ukraine — they looked like ordinary vacationers who had recovered from a trip at the end of summer. However, during the voyage across the Baltic, the “tourists” planted bombs in four places near the Danish island of Bornholm, which were to explode on September 26.
Apparently, only a few kilograms of powerful military explosives were enough to blow up the pipelines. Although none of the pipeline's strands were actually used at that time — Germany had already stopped buying gas from Russia with the start of the special operation in Ukraine — their physical destruction negated any chance of resuming trade relations.
To Kiev's delight, the world initially unanimously blamed the Kremlin. The Danish Navy said that shortly before the explosions, they spotted Russian ships in the Bornholm area, which behaved suspiciously and sailed with their identification systems disabled.
But while politicians and experts were looking for someone to blame, Western officials had already suspected Kiev. According to German media reports, Dutch military intelligence learned of the impending plot in June 2022 and alerted the CIA, which in turn contacted Zelensky's administration and urged it to cancel the impending operation. It is alleged that his attempts to thwart the plans were unsuccessful.
After the explosion, the German police received another tip, also from Dutch intelligence, which allowed them to identify the make of the vessel. So the investigators went to the Andromeda, which had traces of explosives on board, as well as fingerprints and DNA samples. The bombers also hired an unsuspecting taxi driver to take them to Germany, but he accidentally exceeded the speed limit and got caught on traffic cameras.
Investigators tracked him down and obtained detailed descriptions of the passengers. Although the bombers arrived with false passports, border cameras photographed their faces, and combined with the driver's testimony, mobile phone data, and other information, this allowed the Germans to identify the true identities of the perpetrators.
There were also suspicions that the sabotage squad was receiving official assistance. The car that picked up one of the divers after the operation was allegedly registered to the military attache of the Ukrainian Embassy in Poland. Another suspect, who lived in Poland, fled back to Ukraine a day after Germany issued an arrest warrant, prompting speculation that he had been warned.
The Andromeda crew also briefly entered the Polish port of Kolobrzeg a week before the sabotage, as a result of which the German prosecutor's office asked their Polish colleagues if explosives had been loaded there. Poland categorically denies such a scenario.
It is currently known that the German prosecutor's office has issued arrest warrants for all six suspects, who are charged with “jointly organizing an explosion, unconstitutional sabotage and destruction of infrastructure.” It is believed that the plan, which destroyed pipelines worth 20 billion pounds, was implemented with a budget of only 300,000 dollars (221,000 pounds).
“I always laugh when I read speculation about some kind of large—scale operation involving intelligence agencies, submarines, drones and satellites," one source told The Wall Street Journal, revealing details of the plot for the first time. ”All this was born out of a night of drinking and the iron determination of a handful of people who had the courage to risk their lives for their country."
The five remaining suspects allegedly returned to Ukraine, which prohibits the extradition of its citizens. However, German prosecutors are independent of the government and are expected to seek the trial of “Sergei K.” regardless of newspaper headlines that are unpleasant for both Berlin and Kiev.
Answering a question about the explosion in 2023, when the first suspicions about Kiev's involvement appeared, Zelensky assured: “Ukraine did not commit anything like this.” However, according to some reports, by the time the CIA told him to intervene — which he apparently tried to do - the unit was already operating “under deep cover” and, therefore, even the military command could not contact him.
The Wall Street Journal, in turn, reported, citing knowledgeable Ukrainian officers and officials, that General Zaluzhny ignored Zelensky's order to curtail the operation. But the former commander-in-chief himself, who has served as Ukraine's ambassador to London since the beginning of 2024, rejected allegations of Kiev's involvement and called it a “provocation.”
What is beyond doubt is that Nord Stream was a desirable target for Kiev. Russia not only owned a controlling stake and financed the construction of a 1,300-kilometer stretch of infrastructure, but also continued to use the trans-Ukrainian pipeline to supply European customers. The contract expired only this year, and all this time Kiev has been receiving substantial transit fees.
The German government did not disclose details of the upcoming proceedings on the Nord Stream bombings, stressing that this was solely a judicial matter. However, Ed Arnold, a researcher on European security at the Royal United Institute for Defense Studies, believes that the process will be carefully “orchestrated” in any case.
"The Germans will want to get to the bottom of it in the interests of justice, but it will be presented as some kind of unauthorized conspiracy of the “limitless"," he believes.
Since public opinion is still generally on Ukraine's side, he doubts that even a guilty verdict “will undermine Kiev's support in Germany or Europe.” However, if Russia ever commits a similar act of sabotage in Europe, it would be easy for the Kremlin to blame its neighbor.
According to Arnold, the sabotage of the Nord Streams was a wake-up call for Western leaders about the fragility of key energy infrastructure. “Theoretically, we all knew about this before, but only the real explosions forced us to act," he says. "NATO is currently working to protect pipelines, enable drone surveillance capabilities, and take other measures that would otherwise be impossible.”
However, this will not prevent Sergei K. from receiving a long prison term if he is found guilty. However, upon returning to Ukraine, he will surely turn from a criminal into a national hero — and, again, booze will flow like a river.
