German investigators blame Ukraine for Nord Stream

The German federal police agency has developed evidence exculpating the Russian Navy in the destruction of the Nord Stream Pipeline. But in a new twist, they are laying the blame on Ukraine – and they have some evidence consistent with that.

How Ukraine could have done it

The Bundeskriminalamt (BKA, Federal Criminal Police Office) has been investigating the destruction of the Nord Stream Pipeline for some weeks. Now The Times (London), The Daily Mail,and ZeroHedge report that their investigation has taken a strange turn. Most media had focused on “suspicious” Russian naval activity in the Baltic Sea last fall, near the time of the blast. But the BKA, according to The Times, now says the activity does not support any theory implicating Russia.

On the other hand, the BKA identified another suspect vessel: the yacht Andromeda, a 15-meter sloop, the home port of which is the German port of Rostock. According to the Mail, a Polish company hired the yacht, which docked briefly at the island of Christianso, belonging to Denmark, a few days before the blast. Investigators boarded the Andromeda and found traces of “military grade and underwater deployable” explosives on board.

The tie to Ukraine comes from a travel agency formed by two Ukrainian expatriates in Warsaw. According to the BKA theory, five men and one woman entered Germany on false Bulgarian and Romanian passports. They then boarded the yacht and set sail for the Baltic Sea and Christianso. Two other Ukrainian citizens apparently were aboard the yacht – and one, age 26, is a Ukrainian military veteran.

Problems with the theory

The main difficulty with the theory is that the blast site is 70 meters (230 feet) down. According to the Mail, unnamed experts doubt that SCUBA divers could have made that dive without a submarine. But 70 meters is scarcely record-breaking. According to Guinness World Records, Ahmed Gabr holds the world SCUBA record after diving 332.35 meters (1,090 ft 4.5 in) into the Red Sea in 2014. Besides, no one has suggested that a 15-meter (49-foot) sloop could not have carried a two-man submarine.

The travel agency shares an address with more than 100 other entities. Furthermore, in 2022, that agency received a payment of $3 million – for no apparent reason.

But the BKA might have created another problem for itself. The Ukraine ties aren’t the problem; the problem is the co-ordination. This is not to say that Ukraine wasn’t involved – but they might be only the direct actors. If the United States intelligence community wanted plausible deniability, they would work through Ukraine. The evidence the BKA has developed, would be the same. And perhaps the BKA might not have wanted to look too closely at whether Ukraine had help, coaching, or orders.

Seymour Hersh flatly blames the U.S. intelligence community for the Nord Stream incident. Apparently no one has asked him to comment on the BKA’s latest theory. But he now reports that Volodymyr Zelensky’s State allies are pressuring him to end the war. But Zelensky won’t budge, though some are ready to pay him to get lost.