exclusive
In Sweden, the investigation into the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines is apparently to be discontinued. German prosecutors could now benefit from this.
The spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Stockholm made an announcement on Monday that made people sit up and take notice. There will soon be a new development regarding the investigation into the bomb attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022, Mats Ljungvist told Swedish media. However, it is still unclear when he will be able to announce the news.
According to research by ARD, “Süddeutscher Zeitung” and “Die Zeit”, the Swedish authorities apparently want to stop their investigations in connection with the Nord Stream attacks. The exact reasons are not yet known.
The decision should be announced this week. Since the Nord Stream pipes in the Baltic Sea were blown up in September 2022, the Swedish security police have been investigating gross sabotage, as one of the pipes also runs through the Swedish economic zone.
Support for German procedure
According to the research, the investigation should continue in Germany. The Federal Prosecutor General has commissioned the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Federal Police to investigate. German prosecutors could now benefit from the closure of the Swedish investigation.
The Swedish authorities could then transmit their evidence to their German colleagues for evaluation. Sweden would then abandon its claim to criminal prosecution and support the German proceedings.
Initially, the states bordering the Baltic Sea investigated separately and did not share all the investigation results with each other. Access to the Swedish evidence is therefore an important step for the German investigators.
The BKA and Federal Police investigators are apparently interested in parts of the severely damaged pipelines that were seized by the Swedish military shortly after the explosions in autumn 2022. The German investigators want to compare the traces of explosives found on the pipes with those they found on the sailing yacht “Andromeda”. According to local investigators, the ship remains the hottest lead that could lead to the assassins.
Investigators discussed
According to prosecutors’ findings so far, the “Andromeda” was rented or at least paid for through a Polish company in September 2022. A crew presumably consisting of five men and one woman is said to have set sail from Rostock on the yacht.
It is suspected that it may have been a diving team that may have planted explosive devices on the Nord Stream pipes. Ukrainians are suspected. The boat is said to have made several stops, including on the Danish island of Christiansø, in Sandhamn in Sweden and in Kolberg in Poland.
Germany and Sweden had repeatedly discussed the matter with each other during the investigation. The Swedish public prosecutor also visited the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe. German investigators, in turn, recently traveled to Stockholm and spoke to the Swedes about how the evidence there could be evaluated for the German trial.
Restraint in Poland
Poland, on the other hand, is said to have blocked cooperation with Germany for a long time. The sailing boat “Andromeda” also made at least one stopover in Kolberg, Poland, on its tour across the Baltic Sea; the crew is said to have been checked by the Polish coast guard. Only a little information about this was shared with the German investigators when they asked. To date, however, Polish authorities have not transmitted any images from surveillance cameras from the port that could potentially provide more information about the crew of the “Andromeda”.
In Sweden, an investigation was underway on suspicion of serious sabotage. In Germany, on the other hand, the Federal Prosecutor General is conducting proceedings on suspicion of “intentionally causing an explosive explosion” and “unconstitutional sabotage”. In Denmark, investigations are also continuing into the attacks on the pipelines.