German prosecutors have confirmed investigators have searched a boat that may have been used in last year’s Nord Stream gas pipeline bombings, but ministers urged caution over hasty conclusions about reports a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible.
Citing intelligence reviewed by US officials, the New York Times reported on Tuesday a saboteur group had blown up the pipelines, while Die Zeit said the attack had been carried out by five men and a woman who rented a yacht using false passports.
The report, while not suggesting Ukrainian state involvement, comes as Kyiv urges its western allies urgently to increase arms and ammunition supplies to drive back Russian forces as the war enters its second year.
The German public prosecutor’s office said on Wednesday a boat had been searched between 18 and 20 January over “suspicions it could have been used to transport explosive devices that exploded on 26 September 2022” at the Nord Stream pipelines.
Investigators are still trying to determine the identity of the saboteurs and their motive, the prosecutor’s office said, adding that no firm conclusions could yet be drawn, in particular on whether the explosions had been ordered by a state.
Germany’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, urged caution. “We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a Ukrainian group, happened on Ukrainian orders, or was a pro-Ukrainian group acting without knowledge of the government,” he said.
“But I am warning against jumping to conclusions,” Pistorius told a meeting of defence ministers in Stockholm, adding that the likelihood was “equally high” that the bombing of the pipelines, which carry gas from Russia to Germany across the Baltic, could have been a “false-flag operation to blame Ukraine”.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, on a state visit to Erbil, in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, also warned against leaping to judgment, saying officials must be allowed to investigate “in peace, so the government can reach a verdict on the basis of their work, rather than prematurely drawing conclusions from media reports”.
Speaking at the same Stockholm conference, Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, insisted Kyiv was not involved, adding that the media reports were a “little bit strange” and had “nothing to do” with the Ukrainian government.
“It’s like a compliment for our special forces,” he joked. “But this is not our activity.” Reznikov said Kyiv was not worried about the prospect of the media reports weakening western support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, said it was known there had been “an attack against the pipelines, an act of sabotage. But we have not been able to determine who was behind it.” It was right to wait until national investigations were completed before saying anything more about who was responsible, he said.
The attack, which is being investigated by Germany, Sweden and Denmark, helped Ukraine by severely denting Russia’s ability to sell natural gas to western Europe, but also arguably harmed it by pushing up energy prices for key allies, including Germany.
Russia, meanwhile, which has blamed the US and the UK for the sabotage, said on Wednesday western media reports on the explosions were a coordinated attempt to divert attention, adding that Moscow was puzzled that US officials might assume anything without an investigation.
“Obviously, the authors of the attack want to divert attention,” the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said, adding that the information had been planted. “How can American officials assume anything without an investigation?”
Nord Stream shareholder countries and the United Nations “must demand an urgent, transparent investigation with the participation of everyone who can shed light”, he said. Peskov complained that Russia was being excluded and said the whole story was “weird. It reeks of a monstrous crime.”
The undersea explosions occurred in the exclusive economic zones of Sweden and Denmark in the Baltic Sea. Both countries have concluded the blasts were deliberate, but have not said who could be responsible, and investigations continue.
The New York Times report said the US intelligence suggested the perpetrators were “opponents of President Vladimir V Putin of Russia”. Die Zeit said traces of explosives had been found on the yacht, which was chartered by a Polish-registered company owned by two Ukrainian nationals.
The group reportedly set sail from the north German port of Rostock on 6 September last year and were located the next day on the Danish island of Christianso. The yacht was later returned to the owner uncleaned.
The report did not reveal the source of the intelligence. The US officials quoted said they had no evidence indicating Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had any involvement in the blasts.
Reuters and AFP contributed to this report
