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Nearly two years after the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline explosion, the German Federal Attorney General issued the first arrest warrant for the suspects in the explosion. Ukrainian man Vladimir Z is suspected of being one of the divers directly involved in installing explosives on the Nord Stream pipeline.

As the investigation deepened, more evidence and doubts surfaced. It was reported that the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline was ordered by Valery Zaluzhny, the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but he denied it immediately.

On September 26, 2022, multiple explosions occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm and near the southern coast of Sweden, causing serious damage to three of the four pipelines and forcing the interruption of natural gas transportation, which attracted widespread attention from the international community.

▲Two years after the Nord Stream explosion, the mystery remains

First suspect:

Professional diver, very inconspicuous and shy

After the explosion, relevant personnel started to investigate and collect evidence from the question of "how to place explosives to damage the pipeline". According to reports, the previous German investigation was mainly centered on traces of explosives found on a sailing ship named "Andromeda": in addition to various DNA traces and fingerprints, investigators found traces of a special high explosive mainly used by the military on the ship, so they suspected that the "Andromeda" was most likely used as a means of transportation to commit the crime.

In addition, some experts believe that placing explosive devices requires well-trained professional divers.

Vladimir, a professional diver who is strongly suspected of involvement in the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline, had been living in a quiet residential area on the outskirts of Warsaw. Neighbors said he was inconspicuous and shy.

▲The Andromeda sailboat has become the most important breakthrough in the case

While following the clues, investigators noticed that a Citroen van was photographed speeding on the island of Rügen in northeastern Germany shortly after midnight on September 8, 2022. At that time, the Andromeda happened to be docked at the port of Wick, northwest of Rügen. Upon investigation, the truck belonged to a Ukrainian express company. Subsequently, the police questioned the truck driver on his way to Germany again and showed him a photo of the suspect. The driver recognized Vladimir and said that the person sitting in the passenger seat in the speeding photo was this person.

Based on various suspicions, the German Attorney General sent a request for judicial assistance to Poland at the end of June and issued a European arrest warrant for Vladimir.

A spokesman for the Polish Attorney General's Office said investigators did not find him at his residence on the outskirts of Warsaw. "The man crossed the Polish-Ukrainian border in early July and went to Ukraine," the spokesman explained. "Because the German side does not register in the so-called Schengen register, which lists people wanted under the European arrest warrant. Therefore, the Polish border guards had neither information nor basis to arrest him, because he was not listed as a wanted person."

More suspects surfaced:

No direct connection with the Ukrainian military was found

German investigators believe that the sabotage team on the Andromeda may be composed of five men and one woman. German terrorism expert Michael Gotzenberg said in an interview: "(We have received) clues from foreign intelligence agencies, including some (suspects') names."

At the same time, the police received a report from a German crew member from Bremen, saying that he had seen five men and one woman when he was anchored in Sandham Port, Sweden from September 13 to 14, 2022 due to bad weather. He described: "Two of the men had short hair and looked like professionals with military training." "The woman was between 165 cm and 170 cm tall and had brown hair." The crew member also heard these people communicating in Ukrainian.

According to the joint investigation, in addition to Vladimir Z, the current suspects include a married couple who run a diving school in Ukraine. The husband, Yevhen, has 24 diving qualifications and has received extreme diver training in "technical tri-mix diving", which theoretically allows him to dive to a depth of 90 meters. His wife, Svetlana, also has some diving experience.

When asked about the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline, Yevhen reportedly explained that they knew nothing about it. Svetlana said that she was on vacation in Bulgaria when the pipeline was attacked in September 2022 and is currently in Kiev. She also explained that she did not know the suspect wanted by Germany.

So far, the investigation has not found any direct links between the three suspects and the Ukrainian military or secret services.

The case remains unresolved:

Each country is acting on its own, lacking transparency

The explosion two years ago not only had a significant impact on Europe's energy supply chain, but also exacerbated geopolitical tensions in the region.

Stephen Osenkopp, a researcher at the Schiller Institute, a German political and economic think tank, told Red Star News: "This incident has caused German industry to suffer huge losses due to the loss of long-term, low-cost natural gas supplies. The losses suffered by energy-intensive production due to production cuts and stagnation are difficult to quantify. Germany has fallen into a long-term recession and the project (Nord Stream Pipeline) should be restarted as soon as possible to enable the German economy to recover. Although trust between Russia and Europe has been greatly reduced, (Germany) should still work hard to renew long-term supply contracts."

During the investigation of the case, there are still many problems in the coordination and cooperation among European countries. Osenkopp said: "One of the biggest problems is the fragmentation of the investigation. The German prosecutor's office is investigating here, Denmark is also investigating, and Sweden is also investigating. But the information between the parties is not fully exchanged, there are administrative obstacles and lack of transparency. The investigation must be coordinated through the cooperation of relevant government committees, such as the establishment of an international committee composed of experts and investigators with special powers."

"It would be irresponsible and deeply shameful if this act of terror against billions of dollars of economic infrastructure were to go unpunished without clear consequences," Osenkopp added.

To prevent similar incidents from happening again, European countries still have a lot of areas that need to be strengthened and improved at the technical, legal and diplomatic levels. "Infrastructure is the lifeline of human civilization. Whether it is roads, bridges, railway lines, tunnels, or submarine cables, pipelines, wires, etc. Infrastructure attacks aimed at weakening the economy, damaging or destroying public property should be severely punished," said Osenkop.

Red Star News special correspondent Wang Wei from Berlin

Editor Yang Ran Responsible Editor Deng Qiguang