June 10 (Reuters) – German investigators are analyzing proof suggesting {that a} sabotage crew used Poland as a base of operations to wreck Nord Stream pipelines within the Baltic Sea in September, The Wall Road Journal reported on Saturday.
Investigators have reconstructed the two-week voyage of the “Andromeda”, a 50-foot (15-meter) yacht suspected of being concerned within the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and a couple of pipelines, the newspaper stated.
The Journal quoted individuals accustomed to the journey as saying the sabotage crew positioned excessive seas explosives on Nord Stream 1, earlier than setting the ship on a course to Poland. He added that Germany was attempting to match DNA samples discovered on the ship “to at the least one Ukrainian soldier”.
Germany’s Federal Prison Police Workplace and Polish authorities spokesman didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests for remark, however a senior Polish official steered the newspaper story was the results of Russian propaganda .
“Details about Polish or Ukrainian clues within the destruction of NS1 and NS2, repeated within the media area, is consistently utilized by the Russian affect equipment to create the impression/presumption among the many recipients that Warsaw and Kyiv have been behind this incident,” Stanislaw Zaryn, Poland’s Deputy Coordinating Minister for Particular Providers, wrote on Twitter.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 introduced Europe’s reliance on Russian pure gasoline into the political highlight. The destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines accelerated the area’s change to different vitality suppliers.
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, every consisting of two pipelines, have been constructed by the Russian firm Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic meters (bcm) of pure gasoline per yr to Germany.
The Washington Publish reported this week that america realized of a Ukrainian plan to assault the pipelines three months earlier than they have been broken by the explosions, which occurred within the financial zones of Sweden and Denmark.
Each nations have stated the blasts have been deliberate however haven’t but decided who was accountable.
German media recognized in March the attainable involvement of a yacht from a Poland-based firm owned by Ukrainian residents within the assault.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy advised German media on Wednesday that Ukraine had not attacked the pipelines.
Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru Extra reporting by Karol Badohal in Warsaw Modifying by William Mallard and Helen Popper
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