Spiegel: The saboteurs who blew up the Nord Streams planned the explosion of the Turkish Stream

The saboteurs who sabotaged the Nord Streams in September 2022 planned to blow up the Turkish Stream in the Black Sea, but they failed.

This is stated in the investigation of the German newspaper Der Spiegel.

According to the newspaper, sabotage was planned at about the same time. However, later the operation in the Black Sea failed, it was not completed. Der Spiegel did not specify what exactly prevented the Turkish Stream from being blown up.

During its investigation, Der Spiegel spoke to Western intelligence officials, investigators and experts. Sources of the newspaper call the operation itself an "adventure" that succeeded only thanks to the "crazy determination" and negligence of the special services.

Der Spiegel writes that Western special services learned about the plans to blow up Nord Stream about three months before it happened. A representative of the CIA in Kyiv demanded that the operation be stopped, but this was never done. Germany received information from the allies about the preparation of sabotage, but did not perceive it as a serious threat.

The newspaper claims that Ukrainian saboteurs are responsible for the operation. Der Spiegel allegedly managed to identify most of the people involved in the bombing, but decided not to publish their names because of "intrigues within the Ukrainian security apparatus" and because they would "become targets for Russian killers."

Civilians and military personnel participated in the $300 000 operation, in particular, it was commanded by ex-intelligence officer Roman Chervinsky — the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal also wrote about it earlier.

Blasts of "Nordic Streams"

On September 26, 2022, three explosions occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, causing massive gas leaks. Only one of the four threads of the gas pipeline remained intact. Western media wrote that Russia will preserve the "Nordic Streams" because it is not going to repair them after accidents.

The governments of the United States, Great Britain, and the EU have declared targeted sabotage. Russia believes that the United States and its allies are interested in the explosions. Western and Russian media wrote about different versions — from sabotage by the Russians themselves to the involvement of Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky denied Ukraineʼs involvement in sabotage.

In early February 2024, Sweden closed the investigation into the Nord Stream blow-up due to lack of jurisdiction. Following Sweden, Denmark also completed the investigation.

Now Germany is investigating the role of ex-commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhnyi in the undermining of the Nord Streams, as reported by the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal. The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky allegedly initially approved the plan, but later ordered it to be canceled, and Zaluzhnyi continued the operation despite this.

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