Sweden completes investigation into Nord Stream gas pipeline destruction
Photo: Sweden completed the investigation into Nord Stream gas pipeline destruction
The sabotage of two Nord Stream subsea gas pipelines in 2022 remains a mystery. Sweden has concluded the investigation without reaching any clear conclusions about the identity of the perpetrators, according to the Swedish Prosecutor's Office.
The investigation concludes that there is no Swedish jurisdiction and therefore the investigation should be closed.
The preliminary investigation has been terminated because there is nothing to indicate that Sweden or its citizens were involved in the attack, the statement says.
The incident is also being investigated in Germany.
"We have been closely cooperating with the preliminary investigation conducted by the German authorities. As part of this cooperation, we have handed over materials that can be used as evidence in the German investigation," Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, who led the Swedish investigation, says in a statement.
Lack of jurisdiction
According to the Swedish Prosecutor's Office, on September 26, 2022, several attacks were carried out in international waters targeting Nord Stream. A preliminary investigation by Sweden established sabotage.
The main goal of the investigation was to find out whether Swedish citizens were involved and whether Swedish territory was used.
"The preliminary investigation has now reached a stage where the authorities have a clear picture of the incident and nothing has been found to indicate that Sweden or Swedish citizens were involved in the attack, which took place in international waters," the statement says.
Nord Stream
Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, each consisting of two pipes, were built by Russian state-owned Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year to Germany. However, Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Nord Stream 1 was shut down by Russian company Gazprom in the summer of 2022.
Three of the four pipelines were blown up on September 26, 2022.
Investigations indicate that Russian warships were highly active near the Nord Stream pipelines immediately before the explosion.
The media also reported that a private group of Ukrainian saboteurs on a yacht may have been behind the explosion, but this version is not being considered seriously.
