A few days before the sabotage, a 182-meter tanker flying the flag of Greece was standing near the site of the explosion on Nord Stream. The newspaper reported Business Insider on Friday, March 10, citing analyst Oliver Alexander.
As indicated in the publication, the tanker was heading east from Rotterdam, but in the Baltic Sea it stood from September 6 to 12, alternately idle and crossing two gas pipelines. After the ship sailed to Tallinn and on September 18 anchored in St. Petersburg.
A spokesman for Minerva Julie confirmed the ship’s location during the said period and stated that the ship was waiting for the next voyage instructions and that this was “standard shipping practice”.
Earlier in the day, details emerged about a vessel that could have been involved in the Nord Stream bombing. The organizers of the sabotage rented a 15-meter sailing yacht called Andromeda and, presumably, used it to transport explosive devices.
On March 8, the German authorities initiated a search of a ship allegedly related to sabotage on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. In January, the federal prosecutor’s office searched the ship in connection with its suspicious lease, seized a number of material evidence, they are being checked.
On March 7, The New York Times published an article that indicated the possible involvement of a pro-Ukrainian group in the attack on Nord Stream. It follows from the material that some US officials believe that Ukraine and its allies had the most logical potential motive for attacking the pipelines.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that publications about explosions at Nord Stream are coordinated stuffing. He also expressed bewilderment how the American officials referred to by the media, without an investigation, can assume something about the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream.
US journalist Seymour Hersh called The New York Times article about the involvement of Ukrainians in the attack on the joint venture stupid. The journalist learned about the article during a conversation with Izvestia. He also told Izvestia that he would publish a new Nord Stream investigation next week.
Leaks at Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 were discovered in September 2022. The representative of the seismic center of Sweden, Bjorn Lund, said that two powerful underwater explosions were registered in the area of leaks in pipelines at the time of the emergency. Traces of explosives were found at the crash site. The Russian Federation called the incident an act of state terrorism.
