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The gas leak near the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm (recorded in September 2022)
Photo: Danish Defence Command / dpa
It is the hottest clue to solve the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines: A multi-member commando is said to have set sail from Rostock-Warnemünde with the sailing yacht "Andromeda". From the boat, investigators believe, the attackers dived down to a depth of about 80 meters and attached explosive devices to all four tubes. Three were completely destroyed by the explosions in September 2022. It is doubtful whether gas will ever flow through the pipelines again.
When the track to the "Andromeda" first became known in the spring, some experts and politicians reacted skeptically: Can such a complex operation really be carried out by a sailing yacht just 15.57 meters long and 4.67 meters wide?
Does it fit a multi-member commando, extensive diving equipment and a large amount of explosives that were needed to burst the pipelines?
The German investigators now give an answer: Yes, the operation was possible with the "Andromeda". According to SPIEGEL information, a representative of the Federal Prosecutor's Office in the Bundestag's Committee on Internal Affairs reported. The Karlsruhe authority has commissioned an expert opinion specifically for this purpose, which is now said to have come to this assessment.
Explosive remnants in the cabin
The fact that the »Andromeda« is connected to the attack is now considered to be well documented. Traces of military explosives were found in the cabin and other rooms of the yacht, it is said to be an underwater octogen. According to SPIEGEL information, several batches of the material were used, which were of different sizes. The first charge is said to have been too large and the last too small, which is why one tube remained intact.
The question that remains unanswered, however, is: On whose behalf and with whose knowledge did the saboteurs act? It is the most politically sensitive question. Depending on the outcome, it could still be unpleasant for the federal government.
In the meantime, there are growing indications that a Ukrainian command is responsible for the attack. On the other hand, the German investigators do not seem to have found any reliable evidence for Russia's involvement. Nor for the fact that traces were deliberately laid that are supposed to lead on the wrong track.
The US secret service CIA received a detailed warning as early as June 2022, it came from the Dutch military intelligence service MIVD. According to the report, a commando of six Ukrainians is planning an attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
The clue was also sent to Germany at the time, but was not considered plausible. Nevertheless, according to ARD and Die Zeit, the CIA is said to have warned Kiev urgently against such a sabotage operation.
In the meantime, it has become apparent that the attack was carried out according to almost exactly the same modus operandi that the Dutch had warned about at the time: a Ukrainian commando that rented a boat with forged papers. Only details such as the date and port from which the operation started differed.
Trail leads to Ukrainian soldier
At least one possible crew member of the »Andromeda« could have been identified by the German investigators in the meantime: Valeri K. The photo of the Ukrainian soldier is said to have been on a forged document used to rent the sailing yacht.
In order to be able to prove that K. was actually on the boat, investigators recently searched the apartment of a woman in Frankfurt/Oder; she has a child with the Ukrainian. The goal: to compare biological traces from the sailing yacht with the boy's DNA. A result is not yet known.
Valeri K.'s entourage in Germany did not want to comment on the investigation. They are a simple family that would never want anything bad for Germany.