“No proof” does not link Russia to the explosions of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater gas pipelines. Germany’s federal prosecutor Peter Frank told the daily on February 4 The world that Moscow’s role in this act of sabotage “is currently not verifiable”. A version which corroborates to this day the first conclusions of an investigation unveiled in December by The Washington Post.
Peter Frank told the Sunday edition of the German daily, “Welt Am Sonntag”, that “investigations were continuing”. The German Federal Prosecutor explained that “Water and soil samples as well as remains of pipelines were taken from the crime scene, which has been extensively documented. We are currently evaluating this at the criminal level”did he declare.
Germany, which is carrying out its own investigation into these explosions, “is in contact with Sweden and Denmark”, continued the magistrate. Both explosions occurred in the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of these two Nordic countries.
In the same interview, Peter Frank also announced that Berlin had collected “evidence of war crimes committed in Ukraine” and pleaded for a “international legal action against Russia”. “We are currently focusing on the massacres in Boutcha or the attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” he added.
Russia “remains a major suspect”
In December, the Washington Post revealed that “the first conclusions” of an investigation showed that “nothing conclusively tied Russia to the attack”. Moscow “may not be responsible for the sabotage” you know “condemnation was swift and widespread”, lit-on.
The survey indicated that “medico-legal details” did not make it possible to assert that Russia was behind the sabotage. The residues of the recovered explosives as well as the relatively shallow depth of the damaged pipes left a wide range of possibilities as to the perpetrators of this act. “Different actors could have pulled off the attack”using “submersible drones” or of “surface ships”relayed the Washington Post. The “Russia remained a major suspect”, according to statements by officials in the American daily, given the “its recent bombings of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine”.
The explosions of the two gas pipelines immediately gave way to mutual accusations between Russia, the United States and other NATO member countries. Accusations against Moscow aroused skepticism among some, believing that Russia “had little to gain by damaging the gas pipelines” which generate “billions of dollars in annual revenue”.
The charges against “Russia were deemed rushed,” Do not have “considering other countries, as well as extremist groups, that may have the ability and motive to carry out the attack”still relayed the Washington Post.
The United States has called “ridicules” Moscow’s accusations that Washington was behind this sabotage. However, the Biden administration does not hide its “satisfaction” that the Nord Stream “is no more than a piece of metal at the bottom of the sea”.