The Swedish Public Prosecutor’s Office announced this Wednesday Closing the investigation into sabotage of Russian natural gas pipelines Nordic Stream 1 and 2, occurred in September 2022 due to lack of jurisdiction.
“The preliminary investigation was carried out in a systematic and comprehensive manner. Many ship movements were analyzed to understand what happened. There was also a thorough examination of the scene and numerous interrogations. Looking at the overall picture we have, we can confirm this.” HE Sweden has no jurisdiction“said prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist in a statement.
Ljungqvist reminded that the main purpose of the investigation was: Find out if Swedish citizens were involved and whether Swedish territory was used to carry out actions that would endanger the security of this Northern country.
The prosecutor’s office said, “There is no evidence that Sweden or Swedish citizens were involved in the attack that took place in international waters.”
Ljungqvist also underlined the good cooperation with the Danish and, above all, German authorities. They handed over material “that could be used as evidence in the German investigation.”
“The German investigation is ongoing and due to the confidentiality of international judicial cooperation I cannot comment further on this matter. For the same reason, I cannot provide further details about the results of the Swedish investigation or possible suspects in the investigation,” he stated. Ljungqvist.
The Swedish Public Prosecutor’s Office previously confirmed this. an act of “serious sabotage”, possibly carried out by a state actor– announced yesterday that he would make a decision on the case this Wednesday, and the German media stated that it would end with the closure of the case.
In total, two leaks were detected in each gas pipeline, two in the Danish area and two in the Swedish area; all were in international waters; affected governments soon described it as “sabotage” and pointed the finger at a state actor.
The three major leaks were terminated at the beginning of October of the same year when constant pressure was reached in the pipes, but the smallest continued to be active for several more days.
No gas pipelines were in service. when accidents occur.
The first disrupted supplies after Moscow claimed technical problems; The second has never been operational since it was blocked by the German Government in February 2022, following Moscow’s recognition of the self-declared separatist republics of Donbas.
Competing hypotheses about authorship
Both the affected countries and the rest of the European Union (EU), the United States and Russia speak of sabotage. difference in possible authorship.
Moscow blamed “Anglo-Saxon” countries will be left behindWhile he hinted at opposition to the project that Washington has been pursuing for years, some Western countries pointed in the opposite direction.
An investigation by American journalist Seymour Hersh showed that: US intelligence, with the cooperation of Norway and other Western countries.
US and German media later pointed to a pro-Ukrainian group as the author of the sabotage.