Nord Stream blasts: new details and accusations
Germany's Prosecutor General forwarded an arrest warrant for one of three Ukrainians suspected of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline to the Polish authorities in June. According to the Wall Street Journal, President Zelensky authorised the attack. August Hanning, former chief of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, suspects that Warsaw was also involved in planning the blasts. Time for a reassessment?
A legitimate military target
As far as the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is concerned, an attack commissioned by Kyiv would not be a scandal:
“Let's assume that a Nord Stream 2 pipeline ran into the Kursk region: its destruction by Ukrainian troops would hardly have upset anyone. ... According to the latest reports, the situation with the blowing up of the gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea is not that different. Owned by a Russian state-owned company and also contributing to Moscow's war of aggression against Ukraine, it can be seen as a legitimate target on the high seas. Incidentally, at the time it was blown up, it was no longer being used to supply Germany with energy. If the Ukrainian president commissioned it, this can also be seen as a permissible act of defence under international law.”
Like in a James Bond film
The version whereby the blast was a daredevil act of Ukrainian sabotage thought up during a drunken stupor also calls into question Russia's account of the attack, Radio Kommersant FM points out:
“It's worth remembering that the Russian side has long insisted that the pipelines were blown up by the US or its secret allies. It claimed that Ukraine was simply not capable of such a thing – because the attack seemed more like a major act of military sabotage. And now we're talking about a yacht and a few divers ... One thing can be said with certainty: this investigation will not be the last. It would be a sin to let such a colourful James-Bond-type story go unexploited.”
Was the goal to discredit Kyiv?
Ukraine is still maintaining that Russia carried out the attack. Ukrainska Pravda finds it at the very least suspicious that new details have just been published:
“The story of the Nord Stream pipelines continues to develop along the lines of a thriller – with unexpected twists and unforeseeable consequences. ... There is growing evidence of a 'Ukrainian' trail behind the explosions that buried billions of dollars of Kremlin investment. ... At the same time, it's entirely possible that the publication of new 'sensational details' about the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline now of all times, as the offensive by the Ukrainian armed forces in the Russian region of Kursk, is no mere coincidence.”
Don't forget the real threat
If Ukrainian divers really did blow up the gas pipeline, it could cause a rift between Berlin and Kyiv, writes the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
“No matter how politically fatal the construction of Nord Stream is considered to be: an attack using explosives must be prosecuted. Political considerations must not play a role here. ... The Kremlin would rejoice. But even with such a scenario, we should not forget who really poses the threat to peace and freedom in Europe - and that the Russian regime can only be stopped by concerted action.”
Don't jump to conclusions
Until the suspect is apprehended and the facts are clarified in court, there are many open questions, The Times explains:
“The first and biggest of them is: was this really a Ukrainian coup de main? ... Second: if this genuinely was a Ukrainian plot, how much did Kyiv know about it beforehand? An attack on such a significant energy conduit just outside Nato waters, owned not only by the Russian state but also by a consortium of European firms, is very serious and would risk upsetting several of Ukraine's western supporters, not least Germany. ... There remains a distinct possibility that the world will have to wait quite some time for a definitive answer to either of these questions.”