Perhaps we will never know the truth about the Nord Stream deed

 

 

Wolfgang Hansson 

Published: Today 14.21  

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's.  

COLUMNISTS  

After months of silence surrounding the explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, the names of the culprits suddenly appear.  

Almost all information comes from anonymous sources and is difficult to verify.  

The question is whether we will ever get definitive clarity on who carried out the bombings.  

The story is like an exciting agent novel where you can't possibly guess the resolution. 

The German information that a group of six people on board a rented boat should have been behind the detonations comes at the same time as the New York Times published anonymous information from the US intelligence service that a group with connections to Ukraine may have carried out the deed.  

German media claim that the boat was rented by a Polish company with two Ukrainian owners. But the nationalities of the six on board are unclear because, according to German media, they were equipped with forged but professionally manufactured passports.  

The data is undeniably exciting, but one should be very careful with how it should be evaluated. Although they are partially confirmed by Germany's Attorney General.  

Since much comes from anonymous sources, it cannot be ruled out that someone deliberately wants to leak possibly false information that puts the blame on one of the parties.  

The decisive evidence is that traces of explosives would have been discovered on a table in the rented boat. But it has only happened months after the boat was returned.  

The gas leak from Nord Stream 2. Photo: AP / Coast Guard

Acted on assignment? 

Let's assume that the information about the rented boat with two divers on board is correct.  Then it still remains to be determined whether they acted on their own or on behalf of someone.  

Picking up explosive charges on pipelines lying on the seabed in the middle of the Baltic Sea is not something the average climate activist engages in. 

It probably requires military training to be able to carry out such an action and large quantities of explosives. Most likely, a state is behind it or a group sponsored by a state or an individual power group within a state.  

A few weeks ago, the multiple award-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hearsh claimed that it was the United States together with Norway that blew up the Nord Stream. Even his designation is based entirely on anonymous informants.

The problem is that both the US, Russia and Ukraine had reasonable motives for wanting to put the gas pipeline out of action. But preferably blame someone else. 

Ukraine wanted to stop Europe's imports of Russian gas because the revenue finances Russia's wars. Nord Stream also made it possible for Russia to export directly to Germany instead of via the pipeline that runs through Ukraine, which has provided the country with large revenues. 

Not overjoyed  

But there is also a strong argument against Ukraine being behind it. Should it be revealed that Ukraine is guilty, it risks rupturing the agreement that existed in the EU to help Ukraine financially and with weapons. Germany probably wouldn't be too happy if Ukraine put their energy security at risk. To put it mildly.  

Although Russia already cut off the gas through Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were never put into operation due to Russia's war of aggression.  

One theory is that it is a Ukrainian partisan group with no direct connection to the ruling government but which may have received support from another country.  

The US has always opposed the two Nord Stream pipelines because they made Germany and partly the rest of Europe dependent on Russian gas. Just before the war broke out, Biden promised there would be "no Nord Stream 2" if Russia invaded Ukraine. 

- We will put an end to it, said Biden. 

It has subsequently been interpreted as a sign that the US may have carried out the explosion. 

The pipe systems for Nord Stream 2 in Lubmin, Germany. Photo: Stefan Sauer / AP

Create energy chaos 

But even there there is an argument against. Such a revelation would hit hard against Biden, who would have used the same gangster methods to damage vital infrastructure that he accused Russia of using.  

When the explosions were carried out, suspicions were initially aimed primarily at Russia. Moscow had already turned off the gas in Nord Stream 1, realizing that the US and Germany would never allow Nord Stream 2 to be commissioned.  As these pipelines then lost their economic value, Russia may have seen a strategic use. 

By blowing up the lines, they hoped to create chaos in Europe's energy market. Whether Russia was behind it or not, that's what actually happened. Electricity and gas prices took another shot upwards and worries about winter increased, deepening the economic crisis for Europe's households and businesses.  

No one could have known then that Germany would succeed in importing large amounts of liquid gas, so-called LNG, from other countries in record time and that we would have a relatively mild winter. Thus, Putin's energy war against Europe did not have the effect he desired.  

Who ordered?  

The formal investigations into who carried out the crime are still ongoing in Germany, Denmark and Sweden. So far, the investigators refer to pre-trial confidentiality. 

I see parallels to the many murders in Russia of famous politicians and journalists. Often you find the professional killer who held the weapon, but it almost never comes out who ordered the murder.  

Given the interest of those involved in shuffling the cards about Nord Stream, the difficulties in obtaining evidence and the true identity of those on board the boat, I fear we will never know the truth about who was behind the explosion.