Did this mini yacht sail to the Nord Stream blast?

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Who blew up the two Nord Stream pipelines? According to the latest findings of the US Secret Service, they were pro-Ukrainian saboteurs. Where this information came from and what evidence there is for it has not been disclosed.

Shortly thereafter, “Zeit” published an article detailing a study she had conducted. This article explains that a group of six unidentified people, possibly belonging to a pro-Ukrainian group, used high-quality fake passports and rented a yacht in Rostock on September 6 before setting off to set up explosives at the Nord Stream tamper points.

This caused a wave of media attention. At the end of the week, “Mirror” came to the conclusion: The yacht is the Andromeda. How the mission should have gone in detail and who is really behind it all remains unclear. Even a deceptive maneuver that could distract from the real perpetrators is not ruled out. The fact is: at the end of September 2022, three of the four pipes of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were damaged by explosions – and the current theory raises doubts.

Messages sow doubt

The Danish military analyst Anders Puck Nielsen (43) has doubts. “The story raises several questions,” he says in an interview with “Ntv”. “Especially practical aspects, such as the fact that such an action is quite a demanding task.”

The OSINT specialist Oliver Alexander also looks for and finds gaps in the reporting. “The Times” investigated that the explosives used had been bought in Poland and then driven to the yacht in Germany. “Why would the group buy explosives in Poland and risk transporting them across the border to Germany and leaving from Rostock?” According to Alexander, it would have been safer and logistically easier to set sail from a Polish marina that is also closer to Bornholm and the site of the Nord Stream sabotage.

Journalist and weapons expert Lars Winkelsdorf (46) was worried Twitter another question mark: how could the Ukrainian saboteurs have afforded all the explosives? According to “Bild”, three explosions would have required at least 1,500 kilograms of explosives. “The black market price for plastic explosives is around 4,000 to 5,000 euros for 300 grams,” Winkelsdorf tweeted.

With 1500 kilos of explosives, even more questions arise: “Bild” describes the miniyacht as a “nutshell” and is right. With a length of 15 meters, room for eleven people and no crane, the Andromeda is not necessarily equipped for such an operation. And how would six people – only two of them divers – have maneuvered this amount of explosives at a depth of 80 meters?

Breeding alternative theories

All these questions will probably remain unanswered for the time being. However, there is no shortage of alternative theories about the Nord Stream explosions. In mid-February, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh (85) caused a sensation when he claimed in an investigation that the US had carried out the blast in collaboration with the Norwegian army. The report was quickly criticized: Hersh relies on a single source and some data does not correspond to reality. According to his own statements, he wants to return next week with a new report on the subject.

For some observers, however, the United States remains a plausible perpetrator. As soon as there is no more gas coming from Russia, Europe would be completely dependent on the US for gas. Critics see this as a possible motive for Biden. A statement by US President Joe Biden (80) in February last year raised eyebrows in that regard. “If Russia invades Ukraine,” Biden told the press at the time, “Nord Stream 2 will no longer exist.”

Dane Nielsen rules out the US and Ukraine as saboteurs. In both cases, the return is “out of proportion” to the risks taken. For him there is a logical culprit: Russia. “Now it’s clear: if you can blow up your own pipeline, you can blow up other pipelines.” As an example, he mentions the “Baltic Pipeline”, which transports Norwegian gas to Poland. In addition, Russian supply ships were sighted near the pipelines around the time of the explosions, according to a CNN report at the time.

Source: Blick