European media have reported progress in the investigation of the September 2022 bomb attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea gas pipelines, suspecting the perpetrators to come from Ukraine. Germany, Sweden, and Denmark are independently conducting investigations. The linchpin of the operation in the Baltic Sea was a mailbox company founded in Warsaw called Feeria Lwowa, which rented a yacht called Andromeda in Germany and set sail from Rostock in early September. The investigation has led to Ukrainian citizens, and two suspects have been identified from near Odessa and the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The investigation group found traces of explosives on a table on the ship, which had intermediate stations in Wiek auf Rügen and the Danish island of Christiansø and witnessed significant damage to both lines of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline and one of two lines of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The pipelines aim to transport gas between Russia and Germany, with Nord Stream 1 having already been shut down and Nord Stream 2 not receiving an operating license before the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
The investigation suggests state actors and a variety of theories as to who caused the crime. Russia alternately blamed Britain and the United States, but observers of Russian ships fueled suspicion that Russia itself was responsible. Ukraine’s participation could damage the relationship between the allies and Russia. The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office took over the investigations in Germany in October 2022, and there has been no request for legal assistance from Ukraine to date.
