Sweden’s public prosecutor’s office also noted various “influence attempts” in connection with the high-profile incident
The Swedish prosecutor investigating sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines has said that an attack by a state actor is still “absolute main scenario” in its investigation of the crime. This contradicts the claims of some Western media, which pointed the finger at one “pro-Ukrainian group” not linked to any government, as a likely culprit.
“We think it will be quite difficult to determine who did this,” Investigator Mats Ljungqvist told Reuters on Thursday. The people behind the sabotage “made sure that the evidence would not point in one direction, but in several directions.” But, he said, the type of explosives used in the attack was ruled out “a very large number of actors.”
Reports from American, German and British news outlets previously claimed that a small group of “pro-Ukrainian” divers, possibly funded by wealthy individuals, could have pulled off the elaborate sabotage. This scenario is what Western intelligence agencies believe happened, the reports claimed.
Ljungqvist said some private companies that specialize in “certain special missions” could “In theory, implement this.”
“We are not ruling anything out, but that it is a state actor who is directly or at least indirectly behind this is of course our absolute main scenario, given all the circumstances.” he added.
Powerful explosions tore through Nord Stream’s pipelines last September, rendering the multibillion-dollar project unable to pump Russian natural gas to Germany and other European countries. Sweden is one of three EU countries conducting an investigation, as some of the explosions occurred in its waters. The other two are Denmark, an interested party for the same reason as Sweden, and Germany.
Veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported in February that the sabotage had been ordered by US President Joe Biden and carried out by a joint US-Norwegian team. Both nations denied the allegations, but Russian President Vladimir Putin said he agreed with Hersh’s conclusions.
The Washington Post reported this week that Nord Stream became a topic carefully avoided during Western meetings. A diplomatic source said the incident was “like a corpse at a family gathering” which everyone pretends not to notice. The article claimed that politicians in Europe suspect that Ukraine or Poland could have been behind the incident, but did not name the United States as a possible perpetrator.
Ljungqvist’s office released an official update on the Nord Stream investigation on Thursday. The statement explained that the incident “has obviously become an open arena for various influence attempts” and promised to follow the facts.