Nordstream

A joint letter from Sweden and Denmark to the UN Security Council on September 29, 2022, described “at least two detonations” and stated that the earthquake corresponded to “several hundred kilograms” of explosives. NATO promised a firm response to what it declared an intentional act of sabotage. Russia demanded investigations, but instead of an international commission of inquiry with Russian participation, Germany, Denmark and Sweden began their own investigations, but prevented the pipeline’s operator, Gazprom, from surveying the damage.

Though Sweden collected evidence from the seabed, it has so far refused to share the results of the investigation with other states, citing “national security.” The German government blocked a request for clarification on the blasts by a legislator, claiming it is in the “public interest” not to divulge information which originated with a foreign intelligence service.

This March, U.S. President Biden and German Chancellor Scholz met behind closed doors. In the following three days, the New York Times and several German outlets published reports claiming the perpetrators were most likely a “pro-Ukrainian group” using a chartered sailboat, citing anonymous US intelligence sources.

After months of accusations by Western states that Russia carried out the attack against itself, the narrative about Russian “ghost ships” began to crumble. On May 21, the Swedish paper, Expressen, wrote that “the Russian ships have been able to be excluded from the investigation” because “their positions have been mapped and the conclusion must be that they have not been in such a place that they could have carried out the deed.”

Several days later, the Washington Post reported that none of evidence available pointed to Russia’s involvement.

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