Arrest warrant for dive instructor over Nordstream pipeline sabotage

[Kay Dee]

"Germany has issued a European arrest warrant against a Ukrainian diving instructor who allegedly was part of a team that blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, according to a report by three German media outlets published on Wednesday."

Germany has issued arrest warrant for diver over Nord Stream explosions, says report

Investigators said to believe man was one of team that planted explosives on pipelines in September 2022

www.theguardian.com

 

[NothingClever]

Interesting development.

Because this is in LE channels (vice BND), additional insight is likely to trickle out over the next few months and years rather than decades (as long as the integrity of the investigation and opportunity for additional arrest aren’t compromised).

 

[Alex Ouroboros]

Not the nationality I thought would be responsible

 

[Kay Dee]

Not the nationality I thought would be responsible

Not only that, although his full name has not (yet) been released, it is supposedly one Volodymyr Z. Gee, surely he could have picked a better alias!

 

[NothingClever]

The UKR divers were very likely just the emplacers and not the sponsors nor the explosive technicians. They probably were part of the detonation chain in as much as activating a timing device. I’m curious what the sponsor’s payment to the three divers was. This wasn’t a cheap €5,000 job considering the strategic ramifications.

 

[Nick_Radov]

There are some more details in the Wall Street Journal story.

https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/nord-stream-pipeline-explosion-real-story-da24839c?st=zezqdpxv4ejn8hq&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

[lowwall]

Here's the highly sophisticated clandestine vessel (aka rented 50' sailboat) used to deliver the explosive charges:

 

[tarponchik]

Not only that, although his full name has not (yet) been released, it is supposedly one Volodymyr Z. Gee, surely he could have picked a better alias!

His name was released, as Vladimir Zhuravlev.

On the one hand, unlike Denmark and Sweden, who pretended to investigate the case and naturally came up with nothing, Germany can't just walk away because NSs were of huge importance to them and German companies' property was destroyed. So the Germans had to name some suspects. But on the other hand, they can't suspect those who really did it. Thus, they came up with a story how 2 and a half Ukrainians crossed several European borders with at least 1,000 pd of exposives (so easy), found the pipelines (that's easy too, everybody knows how to find pipelines underwater), went down to 210-240 ft with a ton of load, and blew it up (this was the easiest part). This will drag on for some time and end up with nothing.

 

[Nick_Radov]

found the pipelines (that's easy too, everybody knows how to find pipelines underwater)

The pipeline locations weren't secret. I believe the approximate routes were marked on marine charts. And then regular commercially available sonar would allow the boat crew to see the structures well enough to drop anchor right on top of them.

This whole story might be a fabrication, but the boat operations and diving parts are at least plausible.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

It would really cool to know all the details. Diving in the deep dark cold and murky Baltics, presumably at night, in a small weather window, possibly from an unsuitable boat - that’s quite an accomplishment.

What gear they used, how did they run deco etc., how they rehearsed. Most importantly, were they neutral or did they kneel when planting the explosives .

The border was very porous at the beginning of the war with a couple million refugees crossing one way and aid the other way, so hiding explosives would’ve been very feasible.