TOP NEWS

Nord Stream sabotage
Theory: Nord Stream was blown up with four timed bombs

At least four timed explosives are believed to have been used when the Nord Stream gas pipeline was sabotaged in the Baltic Sea almost three years ago. This is shown by German investigation documents that SVT Nyheter has seen. The explosives were transported to the site in a rented sailboat.

A team of six people are believed to have been on the boat. Four of these are said to have been divers who placed the explosives at a depth of 70–80 meters.

A Ukrainian citizen was recently arrested in Italy. He is suspected of having had a coordinating and planning role in the attack.

Suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea
Captain charged: Accident when cables in the sea were torn off

The captain aboard the ship Eagle S, Davit Vadatchkoria, denies having deliberately sabotaged an important cable on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. He says this in an interview with Swedish Yle. He believes that it was an accident, and that the crew on board was not aware that the anchor was dragging on the seabed for 90 kilometers.

Vadatchkoria is also critical of the Finnish operation in which armed forces dramatically boarded the ship from a helicopter.

– What they did was a serious violation of maritime safety. We had followed all their orders. They had no reason to be so aggressive, he says.

Three people, including the captain, are being charged with sabotage after the incident.

Swedish crime prevention
Swedish violence worries Estonian Minister of Justice

The wave of Swedish violence is a cause for concern ahead of Sweden renting 600 prison places in Estonia. Estonian Minister of Justice Liisa-Ly Pakosta tells TT.

– My biggest fear is some type of crime between prisoners, she says.

But otherwise, the agreement suits Estonia well, as the country has a large overcapacity in its prisons, as the Estonian prison service is increasingly investing in conditional sentences, electronic monitoring and community service.

The agreement with Sweden would mean that experienced staff would not have to be laid off. However, for the agreement to enter into force, it must be voted through by a two-thirds majority in the Riksdag. For this to happen, the government must get the Social Democrats on board with the proposal. 

The Russian invasion  Death of Yevgeny Prigozhin
Prigozhin's mother: He knew he was going to die

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the former leader of the infamous Wagner Group, was warned by his mother before he led troops towards Moscow during the Midsummer weekend two years ago. She tells this in a long interview with the Russian independent news site Fontanka.

– When we met before the march, I told him: “Zhenya, (my mother’s nickname for Prigozhin, ed.) you will only get support on the Internet. No one will go with you. People are not like that now. No one will go out into the square,” says Violetta Prigozhina.

The Wagner Group’s rebellion looked unstoppable, but suddenly it was blown off. The last time she saw her son, on August 15, she experienced a sense of hopelessness in him – as if he knew he was going to die. On August 23, his plane crashed outside Moscow.

Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have been accused of being behind the fatal crash, but Prigozhina says that “no one knows what actually happened.”