By Athena Papakosta

European officials were reluctant to address reports that a pro-Ukrainian organization carried out the pipeline attacks natural gas transport Nord Stream 1 and 2 last year.

This is the commentary of the European version of it Politico on the issue that has returned to the news after new reports from both the German and American press about new indications allegedly pointing to pro-Ukrainian saboteurs.

The German newspaper Die Zeit and public television stations ARD and SWR reported that researchers were able to reconstruct how the explosions occurred in the pipelines carrying natural gas from Russia to Germany on September 26, 2022.

They also reported that five men and one woman used a yacht chartered by a Ukrainian company in Poland to carry out the attacks. At the same time, German prosecutors confirmed that a ship believed to be involved in the pipeline sabotage case was investigated last January.

On their part, the Times of New York reported that the attack on the pipelines was carried out by a pro-Ukrainian group citing new information which, they note, was reviewed by US officials.

At the same time, the newspaper notes that there is no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or senior military officials were involved, nor that the perpetrators acted under the direction of any Ukrainian government official.

For the newspaper Handelsblatt however “intelligence circles have recently said that such an attack would hardly be possible without government support”.

If these allegations turn out to be true, Politico notes, they could damage the image of the European Union, which offers aid to Ukraine, and especially the image of Germany, which, together with Sweden and Denmark, is investigating the incident. Nevertheless, officials prefer to approach the issue from a safe distance.

The position of the Minister of Defense of Germany, Boris Pistorius, from Stockholm is indicative. He emphasized that he read the reports “with great interest” but warned against a hasty formulation of accusations. He also added that he would prefer to wait and see if this could be proven or not.

“I don’t have the data,” said the Finnish Minister of Defense, Andi Kaikonen, while on the same wavelength was the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, who called on all sides not to draw arbitrary conclusions.

The claims of the German and American press were rejected by the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Oleksiy Reznikov. “They sound like a compliment to our special forces, but these attacks are not our actions,” he told reporters in Stockholm.

For his part, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined to comment, saying investigations by Germany, Denmark and Sweden were ongoing.

Moscow has repeatedly blamed the West for the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Russian gas pipelines to Germany, with a Kremlin spokesman insisting that “the perpetrators of the attack want to divert attention. What we are seeing is a concerted attempt to mislead through the Media.” For their part, the US and NATO have described the incident as sabotage.