Sweden says found traces of explosives in Nord Stream, confirms sabotage

Swedish investigators have found traces of explosives around the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which link Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea. The two structures were the target of explosions in September, and the finding of the Swedes, this Friday (18), reinforces the hypothesis that the attacks were planned by saboteurs.

The episodes are also investigated by Denmark, which last month had already pointed out evidence that the leaks were caused by strong explosions.

“The analysis now carried out shows traces of explosives on several of the objects that were recovered,” the Swedish public prosecutor’s office said in a statement, adding that the findings established the incident as “gross sabotage”.

The two explosions disrupted already scarce Russian gas supplies to Europe since the start of the Ukrainian War. At the time of the incident, only Nord Stream 1 was in operation, as the second structure was suspended by the Germans even before the start of its operations – a response to the conflict in Eastern Europe.

Sweden, on the other hand, avoided saying which explosives were used in the attack and whether the investigations will be able to determine the authors of the eventual sabotage. Russia’s Ministry of Defense last month accused UK navy officials of blowing up the pipelines – London, naturally, said the accusations were false and meant to divert attention from Russia’s defeats in Ukraine.

Also on Friday, the Russians said they would wait for the completion of investigations to decide whether repairs would be carried out. “The very fact that data has already started to arrive, in favor of confirming a subversive or terrorist act, once again confirms the information that the Russian side has,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. .