Status: 09.10.2022 12:23 p.m
The federal police want to investigate the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines with divers and technology. Two Bundeswehr ships are on a reconnaissance mission in the Baltic Sea.
After the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines around two weeks ago, the Federal Police, together with the Bundeswehr, launched a reconnaissance mission into the incident. This emerges from a letter from the Ministry of Defense to the Defense Committee of the Bundestag WDR and NDR present.
“Situation picture” is to be gained
According to this, Dieter Romann, the President of the Federal Police, last week made a request for administrative assistance to the Bundeswehr “to support them in obtaining a situational picture of the damage to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipelines”.
The request was approved after “determination of the available capacities in the Navy and legal examination by the Federal Ministry of Defence”.
Ships underway since Friday
Last Friday, two ships of the German Navy, the minesweeper “Dillingen” and the multi-purpose boat “Mittelgrund”, sailed from the Kiel and Eckernförde bases to the pipelines. Also on board are divers from the federal police who are to take pictures of the damage to the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm.
At the end of September, explosions damaged the Nord Stream pipelines in four places. It is assumed that it was deliberate sabotage. It is not yet clear who is responsible for the incident. Swedish authorities also began investigating last week and sent a submarine.
Possibly criminal investigations
In Germany, the Attorney General is currently examining whether investigations into a criminal offense should be started, as Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann recently explained.
It would then possibly be about anti-constitutional sabotage with an impact on Germany, said Buschmann. The criminal offense of causing an explosives explosion is therefore also an option.