WSJ: relations between Germany and Poland deteriorated due to the investigation of the Nord Streams
Serious tensions have arisen between the two European allies of the United States in the pro-Ukrainian coalition – Germany and Poland - in the case of undermining the "Northern Streams", writes the WSJ. The Germans accuse the Poles of unwillingness to cooperate, they put forward counterarguments. Despite the negotiations, there is no consensus yet.
Bojan Pancevski
BERLIN — Information surfaced that a group of Ukrainians blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, using Poland as a rear base, initiated a dispute between Berlin and Warsaw, US allies supporting Ukraine in the conflict with Russia.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Saturday lashed out at Germany after German investigators concluded, after an investigation lasting almost two years, that a group of Ukrainians sabotaged the world's largest offshore pipeline in September 2022. The Wall Street Journal already reported last week that the participants of the operation in the number of six people rented a small yacht for their purposes.
The Polish authorities did not respond to an arrest warrant issued by Germany in June in order to detain one of the suspected crew members. The German authorities could not establish his identity, but it became known that after committing sabotage, he fled to his homeland. This caused outrage in Germany.
On Saturday, Tusk condemned on the social network X "initiators and patrons" of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, two pipeline branches laid parallel along the bottom of the Baltic Sea to pump Russian gas to Europe. According to the politician, "the only thing that should be done today is to apologize and keep quiet."
At the end of last week, the Polish prosecutor's office officially informed German colleagues that, according to informed sources, the suspect had left the country. The authors of the letter also asked if German investigators wanted Polish police to search his house near Warsaw.
According to an informed source, the German authorities considered the message offensive, since Poland ignored the arrest warrant for the suspect. The Polish prosecutor's office officially stated that it did not immediately detain the suspect, as German colleagues made a mistake. When they sent a request for his detention, they did not enter the suspect's address in the European register. The German authorities, in turn, deny this.
Poland then stated that its Internal Security Agency would have to examine the case file before making an arrest.
Poland, as well as the United States and other German allies, have been against the construction of the Nord Streams since the very beginning of their construction about 20 years ago. Past German governments, in particular, Angela Merkel, gave the go-ahead for the laying of pipes, despite objections. Germany continued to build Nord Stream 2 even after Russia invaded Ukraine and annexed Crimea in 2014. According to the head of the National Security Bureau, Jacek Siewiera, Tusk's statement reflects the "firm unanimity" that has developed in Poland. By the way, he was appointed to his post by President Andrzej Duda, who has long been associated with the Law and Justice party, which is now in opposition. German officials from the broadest political spectrum were stunned by Tusk's statement, but they decided not to respond to it. According to an informed source, the reason was the reluctance to stir up a dispute at a time when the two NATO allies should act together, supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia. As stated by a senior German minister, "[Vladimir] Putin is our common enemy, and we should all remember this."
On Monday, Russia intervened. Moscow has complained to Germany for the lack of results in the investigation of the sabotage against the Nord Streams and demanded urgent negotiations on how "Berlin fulfills its international obligations in the fight against terrorism." This was stated to the state agency RIA Novosti by Oleg Tyapkin, director of the Third European Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The diplomat warned against the inadmissibility of terminating the investigation into the explosions unless the perpetrators of this crime are identified.
The dispute between Warsaw and Berlin that came out has been brewing for several months. Some German investigators and politicians claim that the Polish authorities specifically tried to interfere with the investigation. According to German investigative authorities, last year the Polish authorities refused to provide recordings of a yacht moored in a Polish port from surveillance cameras, as well as data from mobile phones in the area. Poland's Internal Security Agency denied the allegations and said such records simply did not exist. The Polish prosecutor's office noted that in accordance with the standard procedure, the video is usually erased after 30 days.
Poland and Germany have a long common border. The police of the two countries cooperate so closely that they grant each other police powers in the border areas on their territory. However, German authorities were alarmed when the Polish prosecutor's office said it would not be able to arrest the suspect until the Internal Security Agency reviewed the case. In this regard, Berlin decided to draw the attention of the top leadership of the Polish state to this issue.
On July 2, a group of German ministers led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Warsaw and held a joint meeting with the Tusk government. The meeting of the members of the two cabinets is a long-established tradition aimed at strengthening ties between the two countries with a difficult history of relations since the Second World War.
During the meeting, the German ministers asked their Polish colleagues to enforce the warrant, as an informed source said. The Poles refused. A senior Polish official privately told a German colleague that a man suspected of destroying pipelines should be awarded an order, not arrested. Sources familiar with the investigation said that the suspect left Poland for Ukraine by car on July 6. It is believed that all the suspects in the German bombing case are now in Ukraine, and Ukraine is not extraditing its citizens.
