DNA from a child in Germany to solve the Nord Stream puzzle Selenskyj: Russia’s defeat is approaching – the night update without photos

A new clue in the investigation of the Nord Stream attack leads to Frankfurt (Oder). An apartment there would have been searched, reports the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The former partner of a Ukrainian suspect is said to have lived here.

The background to the investigation is a sailing yacht named Andromeda, which was found earlier this year and is thought to be linked to the attack on the gas pipeline. Now the detectives in Frankfurt (Oder) have found some traces, including explosives and DNA remains of the alleged crew. The evaluation of the Andromeda finds is ongoing. Some traces would lead to Ukraine, the “Spiegel” reported last Friday.

Common child with suspect?

According to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, on May 25, a woman’s apartment in Frankfurt (Oder) was searched by agents of the Federal Criminal Investigation Department. She would have had a relationship with one of the alleged perpetrators who were on the yacht. According to the report, she will be treated as a witness and will be interrogated intensively.

Apparently she also had a child with her partner; therefore DNA samples would have been taken from the child. These can be compared to traces of the yacht – and give clues as to whether a blood relative of the child was on the ship. This could thicken the suspicions against the Ukrainian. So far, however, the federal prosecutor’s office has only confirmed to the newspaper that the apartment of a “non-suspicious person in Frankfurt (Oder)” has been searched.

It is still unclear who was really responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline. Read more about the three most discussed pipeline attack theories here. Shortly after the explosions, suspicion initially fell on Russia, as such an attack would fit the picture of hybrid warfare against the West.

What did Russian ships do at the later crime scene?

According to expert speculation, the Kremlin could have used the attacks on the pipelines, which were halted at the time, to demonstrate publicly its capability to attack NATO’s critical infrastructure – while also avoiding fines, as the Russian state… The property company Gazprom, contrary to current contracts, had limited deliveries via Nord Stream 1.

At the end of March, research by t-online published reliable traces of this theory for the first time. Accordingly, a few days before the explosions, on September 21 and 22, special vessels of the Russian army for underwater operations were on site.

Yacht would have had explosives on board

In March, suspicion fell on a “pro-Ukrainian group”. With the yacht Andromeda, about 15 meters long, and lots of explosives, the perpetrators drove near the Danish island of Bornholm and carried out the blast, according to media reports. In August last year, a charter application was made to a travel agency in Warsaw – according to research by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR, it was a letterbox company. The yacht itself was found in March in an old military harbor on Rügen.

The president of the company is said to be a Ukrainian. Further investigation led to a 26-year-old Ukrainian soldier believed to have been one of the Andromeda’s crew members. He would have come into the crosshairs of the authorities because of a fake passport, which he would have shown when renting the ship.

Political significance in the case of a Ukrainian perpetrator

This man, whose identity SZ wants to know, is said to have had a relationship with the woman from Frankfurt (Oder). He is said to have served in a Ukrainian infantry unit. It can also be about identity theft. Whatever the officers found in the apartment could substantiate this investigative approach.

The path to Ukraine is also not without political significance. Even if Kiev has officially denied any involvement in the attack, there is certainly an interest in destroying the lines. Finally, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline threatened billions in revenue that Ukraine had previously received for the transit of gas from Russia. The political resistance to the pipeline from Kiev was correspondingly high.

Still, it cannot be ruled out that previously unknown actors tampered with the line. The international investigations are ongoing.

The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, which run under the Baltic Sea, were damaged by the explosions at the end of September. The explosions caused several leaks in the pipelines built to transport Russian gas to Germany. Read more about it here.

(t-online, when)