Germany found traces of subsea explosives in samples taken from a yacht that it suspects “may have been used to transport the explosives” to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, it told the U.N. Security Council in a letter with Sweden and Denmark.
The officials say that the investigation hasn’t yet established who the perpetrators were and whether a state was involved.
A series of unexplained explosions hit the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines connecting Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea last September in the exclusive economic zones of Germany, Sweden and Denmark.
Denmark, Sweden and Germany have been investigating the Sept. 26 attack, and the Danish Foreign Ministry tweeted a letter Tuesday from the three countries’ U.N. ambassadors to the president of the Security Council with information on their activities so far.
Officials voiced caution in March over media reports that a pro-Ukraine group was involved in the sabotage. German media reported then that five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company in Poland to carry out the attack, and that it set off from the German port of Rostock.
German federal prosecutors declined direct comment on that and other reports but did confirm that a boat was searched in January, and said there was suspicion that the boat in question could have been used to transport explosive devices that were used to blow up the pipelines.
A section of this week’s letter detailing Germany’s findings said that the sailing yacht’s precise course hasn’t yet been definitively established. It said that “traces of subsea explosives were found in the samples taken from the boat during the investigation,” but didn’t elaborate.
“At this point it is not possible to reliably establish the identity of the perpetrators and their motives, particularly regarding the question of whether the incident was steered by a state or state actor,” it said. “All information to clarify the matter will be pursued during the continuing investigations.”
“According to expert assessments, it is possible that trained divers could have attached explosives at the points where damage occurred to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, which are laid on the seabed at a depth of approx. 70 to 80 metres,” it said of Germany’s inquiry.
Moscow has said the West was behind the blasts. Western governments have denied involvement as has Ukraine, which is fighting Russian forces that invaded in February 2022.
The undersea explosions ruptured the Nord Stream 1 pipeline — which, until Russia cut off supplies at the end of August, was its main natural gas supply route to Germany. They also damaged the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which never entered service as Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia failed in March to get the U.N. Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into the Nord Stream blasts.
The pipelines were long a target of criticism by the United States and some of its allies, who warned that they posed a risk to Europe’s energy security by increasing dependence on Russian gas.
