Sweden has been investigating the Nord Stream explosions for months. Now the public prosecutor wants to have obtained important information.
Stockholm – It has been around six months since several Nord Stream pipelines were blown up near the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm. But despite various investigations and numerous speculations, it is still not clear who is behind the attack. While the traces recently pointed to a presumed pro-Ukrainian group on Rügen, had Wladimir Putin blatantly blamed the US in the past.
Now the Swedish public prosecutor’s office said that a “state actor” was most likely responsible for the explosions. But they also pointed out that the identity of the perpetrator was still unclear. “We do not rule out that non-state actors are also able to do this,” prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist told the Swedish news agency TT. “But then we are dealing with very few companies or groups. Given all the circumstances, our most important lead is that a state is behind it.”
Sweden: Investigations into Nord Stream explosions remain difficult
Ljungqvist emphasized that the case is very complex and the investigation is therefore taking a long time. The prosecutor did not say when the Swedish investigation will be completed. The prosecutor argued that the detonations in the “crime” took place “80 meters below the surface of the sea on the seabed”.
Authorities and investigators in Denmark, Sweden and other countries suspected early on that the September 2022 explosions were deliberate attacks. Already last year it was said from Sweden that remains of explosives discovered on several “foreign bodies” found. The pipelines were at this point due to differences between Russia and the European Union in connection with the Ukraine war not in use.
Die USA and some of its allies have frequently criticized the pipelines in the past, warning that they pose a risk to Europe’s energy security – states like Germany were making themselves dependent on Russia, it was said for years. (nak)