The involvement of a state actor in the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosion last year is “absolutely the main scenario” (under the investigation), Swedish prosecutor Mats Jungqvist, who is investigating, told Reuters on Thursday. on sabotage.
Recall that in September 2022, several underwater explosions damaged the newly built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that connect Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. The explosions took place in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark, and the two countries claim that these explosions were deliberate, but have not yet determined who exactly was responsible.
“We think it will be quite difficult to determine who did this,” Jungqvist said. “Whoever did this probably knew they would be leaving evidence behind, and probably made sure the evidence pointed the investigation in not one, but many directions at once.”
“Therefore, it is not easy to establish unambiguously who was behind all this,” he added.
Jungqvist reported that investigators were able to determine what type of explosive was used and that (type of explosive) ruled out “too many subjects”.
He, however, declined to name the explosive used, citing an ongoing investigation.
According to the Swedish prosecutor, it cannot be completely ruled out that an independent group and not a state actor was behind the attack, but that it is unlikely.
“There are certain groups that have certain special missions, and so theoretically they could carry them out,” he said. “We’re not ruling anything out, but the fact that a state actor is directly or at least indirectly behind this is, of course, our absolutely main storyline, all things considered.”
Jungqvist noted that what happened prompted numerous attempts to influence the course of the proceedings – apparently in an effort to deliberately obscure the tracks.
“I don’t want to comment on any particular report (about this), but I can conclude that many popular theories can be easily dismissed based on what we learned during the investigation,” the prosecutor explained.
