The explosive used was most common among governments and their militaries.
QUICK FACTS:
- A Swedish investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline explosion found that the most likely explanation is that a state-sponsored group is behind the sabotage.
- While Swedish Public Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist noted a state actor participating in the explosion is the “absolute main scenario,” Ljungqvist told Reuters over a phone interview that he believes “it will be rather difficult to determine who did this.”
- “The people who did this have probably been aware that they would leave clues behind and probably took care so that the evidence would not point in one direction, but in several directions,” Ljungqvist added.
- “Regarding the incident, there is no doubt that this is gross sabotage in international waters directed towards infrastructure, whose owner is not connected to Sweden,” Ljungqvist said in a press release. “The focus for the Swedish investigation is primarily about examining if Swedish interest or Swedish security is threatened, for example if Swedish territory was used to carry out the sabotage.”
- The lead prosecutor also told a Swedish media organization that while investigators have not completely ruled out an independent organization being the culprit of the explosion, their main investigation track is that it is a “state that is behind it.”
SWEDISH AUTHORITIES DOUBT ALLEGED RUSSIAN INVOLVEMENT:
- Although several mainstream media organizations reported theories that Russia was behind the pipeline explosion, Ljungqvist explained he “never thought” Russia was to blame.
- March 2023, Ljungqvist told the New York Times, “It’s my job to find those who blew up Nord Stream. To help me, I have our country’s Security Service. Do I think it was Russia that blew up Nord Stream? I never thought so.”
- “It’s not logical. But as in the case of a murder, you have to be open to all possibilities,” he argued.
BACKGROUND:
- In February, Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh claimed the Nord Stream explosion was an operation carried out by the CIA under the Biden administration.
- When anonymous US officials said “unspecified new intelligence suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the attack, Hersh alleged that US intelligence fed the story to the public.
- US officials added the saboteurs appeared to have “specialized government training in the past.”
- The White House and Ukraine have denied any involvement related to the explosion.
