It has now been twenty months since three massive explosions caused the Nordstream pipelines between Russia and Rügen to burst – and investigators from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Criminal Police Office are still searching for the perpetrators. Little has been revealed about the investigation since then, but this much is known: the trail pointing to Ukraine has become even stronger. Southgerman newspaperARD and the Time had reported last September about possible perpetrators with a Ukrainian background and about the sea voyage of the Andromedaa 15-meter-long sailing yacht, across the Baltic Sea. Investigators are now certain that the ship was used for the attacks. Among other things, they found parts of diving equipment and remains of explosives on the boat. The Andromeda set sail from Rostock at the beginning of September 2022 with four men and one woman on board and moored in ports in Denmark, Sweden and Poland on her journey. During that time, the yacht and her crew were sighted several times by sailors. And she was also near the explosion site at the time in question.
Denmark and Sweden have stopped the search for the perpetrators
According to reports, investigators are currently trying hard to find the true identities of the crew. But the investigation is going slowly. Secret services have a hand in it, that much is certain. The investigators are dealing with false passports and stolen identities. In addition, Denmark and Sweden have stopped the search for the perpetrators in recent months. And Poland, where the Andromeda moored in the meantime, is no help so far. Possible video recording from the port of Kolberg, which the crew of the Andromeda The investigators said that the documents that could have shown the perpetrators had long since been deleted. A list of names that Warsaw announced last year and that were allegedly linked to Russian individuals was not very credible.
And to make matters worse, Russia recently presented the names of possible Ukrainian perpetrators – but the German security authorities are certain that this was also just deliberate disinformation. The next step would be a possible request for legal assistance to Ukraine. But investigators have so far shied away from this. They fear that this would currently cover up more tracks than it could clarify.