Sabotage: The North Stream Pipelines-Geopolitics on the bottom of the Baltic Sea

After the explosions on the North Stream Erdgas lines in September 2022 in the Baltic Sea, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Italy had a suspect Ukrainian arrested. The Karlsruhe authority accuses Serhij K., among other things, to bring about the community of an explosive explosion and anti -constitutional sabotage. The badly damaged Pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 are highly controversial.

Why were the north stream lines built?

In order to supply the German economy with cheap natural gas, the 1,224 kilometer long North Stream 1 pipeline with two parallel management lines from Russia was built through the Baltic Sea to Germany. Their capacity: 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

The strands were put into operation in 2011/2012 and reach the German mainland in Lubmin near Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. From there, lines start to the south and west, which were built especially for the forwarding of the Russian gas.

A second, parallel management was built from 2018 – Nord Stream 2. It was completed at the end of 2021, but received no operating license by the German authorities due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

What role did Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania play?

Countries such as Poland, the Ukraine and the USA had warned before the construction of Nord Stream 2 because Germany made themselves too dependent on Russian energy deliveries. The United States even threatened to take sanctions in the building.

To protect against it, the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania founded the “Foundation for Climate and Environmental Protection MV” in early 2021. North Stream 2 was completed under her coat. An investigation committee in the Schwerin state parliament is dealt with. Ex-Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) is invited as a witness. After leaving politics, he was active for Russian energy companies for many years, including as President of the North Stream 2 AG board.

What happened to the act of sabotage in September 2022?

On September 26, 2022, several explosions occurred on the two gas pipes North Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 near the Danish island of Bornholm. Three of the four strands of the two lines were badly damaged. The alleged perpetrators are said to have rented a sailing yacht in Rostock through middlemen and thus brought the explosive to the gas pipes. Investigators later found traces of underwater explosives on the “Andromeda”.

Who is the Ukrainian now arrested?

According to the federal prosecutor, the 49 -year -old Serhij K. is said to belong to the group, which placed the explosives – presumably even one of the coordinators. He now went online in Italy in Italy, near the seaside resort of Rimini on the Adriatic. There he spent a summer vacation with his wife and two children aged six and nine years for a few days.

The Carabinieri tracked him due to the data that you have to hand over in Italy when registering in the hotel or in the apartment. It noticed that the man with a European arrest warrant was sought. According to the police, he did not resist when arresting in the early morning.

K. is now in prison in Rimini. He is to be transferred to Germany and the investigative judge of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, which decides on the custody. However, it could take a few weeks to demonstrate. The Italian authorities want to check whether he was also involved in attacks on ships of the Russian “shadow fleet” in the Mediterranean.

Who are the other suspects?

Different speculations circulated for a long time for the perpetrators and the masterminds of the North Stream Sabotage. Finally, among other things, the Ukrainian Wolodymyr Z. According to the Warsaw General Prosecutor’s Office, he initially stayed in Poland, but had left his home country from there. He is also sought with a European arrest warrant. There is no information on other participants.

What about the two lines at the moment?

The pipelines are considered to be badly damaged, but repairable. So far, they have not been finally given up. In March, Denmark of Nord Stream 2 AG allowed them to take maintenance measures at the location of the explosions.

The gas analyst Heiko Lohmann, however, sees no pressure to advance the use of Nord Stream 2. In the course of the customs agreement, the EU had finally assured the United States to import energy from the United States for $ 750 billion over the next three years. “It is unrealistic that you can use so much,” said Lohmann. According to his knowledge, there are no major repair work.

An impending bankruptcy of the North Stream 2 AG, based in Steinhausen in Switzerland, was averted at the last minute in April. This means that the company can continue to search for investors. In the media, speculation was speculated in the spring of the start of US investors. The wealthy US businessman and supporter of US President Donald Trump, Stephen P. Lynch, was mentioned.

Lohmann: “The thing with the American investors was a big hype in the spring, but it cannot be seen that anything has been promoted in this direction since April. Nothing happened that would have caused any market reaction.”

Are the lines in the Ukraine War?

The pipeline operation could become part of an American-Russian agreement to settle the Ukraine War. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrow said on state television in March: “There is talk of north stream.”