Expert on the bombs: Probably timed

  

 

The gas leaks on Nord Stream 1 and 2 The expert's theory - that's how the wires burst 

 

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Give Zangana 

 

Published: Less than 2 hours ago 

 

NEWS 

 

New underwater images from Expressen  showed the damage after the Nord Stream explosion. 

 

Experts think they know what could be behind it. 

 

- I think it is possible to establish that it is a state that is behind it, not a terrorist group, says Chuck Pfarrer, former operator within the Navy Seals to the newspaper. 

 

Earlier this week, Expressen published films and underwater images of the ruptured gas pipelines in Nord Stream 2. The images are the first public images of the damaged pipes. 

 

The images showed, among other things, that at least 50 meters of the thick metal pipe appear to be missing. 

 

The Coast Guard announced last week that the bubbles above the Nord Stream pipes were no longer visible, which meant that the gas had stopped leaking.  

 

Experts who have analyzed the material give a picture of what may be behind it.

Photo: Graphics: Paul Wallander

 "Probably been timed" 

 

Chuck Pfarrer is a former operator within the Navy Seals and during his time as an elite soldier himself has carried out similar sabotage during exercises. 

 

Pfarrer tells Expressen that there are many indications that the Nord Stream sabotage was carried out by a group of divers who placed explosives on top of the pipe in a semicircle. 

 

Pfarrer says that the sabotage is a very advanced military mission that also required large resources and technology. 

 

- It narrows the group of potential implementers. I think it is possible to establish that it is a state that is behind it, not a terrorist group, he says. 

 

Something Pfarrer also believes is that the explosive charges were likely timed. According to Pfarrer, the saboteurs were thus several miles from the site of the detonations. 

 

- It also means that the risk of civil shipping being damaged has not been taken into account. 

 

Expert: Simpler method 

 

Two more experts have analyzed the images. One of them is Patrik Hulterström, a researcher at the Defense Academy, who is not so sure that the explosions are an operation that has required large resources. 

 

Rather, Hulterström believes, it may be that a simpler method has been used. 

 

- What I have seen now, I still think, indicates that it is a large charge that has moved the pipe, he says. 

 

Persons with access have previously described to Aftonbladet how a central first question in the Security Police's investigation of the Russian pipelines is whether the explosive force struck from inside the pipes - or from outside.

Photo: AP