Nord Stream Whodunit gets complicated as Russia takes steps to repair sabotaged pipelines

Russia is about to pay for expensive repairs to two natural gas pipelines that run through the Baltic Sea. Experts from Western countries suspect Moscow may have ordered these to be destroyed.

Moscow’s latest moves complicate already uncertain theories about who could be responsible for bombing the Nord Stream pipelines in September and why. Swedish investigators have determined that the most likely culprit is a state actor, but they can’t say who. The New York Times.

Four leakages were caused by three explosions on September 26 in Nord Stream 1. The bombings were carried out at two locations within the exclusive economic zones Sweden, Denmark and the Baltic Sea.

Many Western leaders and experts blamed Russian aggression for the leaks after the explosions. Jennifer Granholm, U.S. Energy Secretary said Russia on September 30 “seems” Experts believe that Moscow was the perpetrator. Experts hypothesized that Moscow was sending a threatening message against the West’s underwater infrastructure, as well as cutting off a main artery for Europe’s access to Russian gas fields ahead of winter.

Russia repeatedly denies the allegations. The Russian accusation has not been supported by evidence. Some European officials have expressed regret over earlier condemnations of Russia.

“The governments that waited to comment before drawing conclusions played this right,” One European official said The Washington Post.

According to the Post, either a state or a state-backed terror organization is most likely to be suspect.

“We know that this amount of explosives has to be a state-level actor,” Pekka Haavisto was the Finnish Foreign Minister. “It’s not just a single fisherman who decides to put the bomb there. It’s very professional.”

Finland is not served by the Nord Stream pipelines. The event is still a warning. “The lesson learned is that it shows how vulnerable our energy network, our undersea cables, internet … are for all kinds of terrorists,” Haavisto said.

Daniel Stenling, Sweden’s top counterintelligence official, declined to posit a culprit to the Times. He stated that the attack was a terrorist plot. “very interesting” following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“In the big context of the war in Ukraine that is ongoing, it’s very interesting and very serious,” He spoke to the Times, while emphasizing Russia’s growing threats in cybersecurity and espionage.