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Gas leak near Bornholm (in September 2022)
Photo: Danish Defense Command/dpa
The Swedish public prosecutor's office has announced that it will stop further investigations into the explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. In doing so, she confirmed previous media reports.
Apparently the Swedish authorities were unable to find any specific suspects in their own country. After the gas pipes were blown up in September 2022, the Swedish security police investigated gross sabotage because one of the pipes also runs through the Swedish economic zone.
An end to the Swedish investigations will have no impact on the proceedings in Germany, which are being conducted by the Federal Prosecutor General and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). “The investigation is still ongoing,” it says officially. The Swedish authorities can now transmit evidence and exhibits to their German colleagues. Sweden would then abandon its claim to criminal prosecution and support the German proceedings.
Those responsible for the attacks are still unclear
The two Nord Stream twin tubes were damaged by detonations in Swedish and Danish territorial waters in September 2022. Given the scale of the attacks, investigators quickly assumed that it was sabotage. Until deliveries stopped, Russia pumped natural gas from Siberia to Germany and other European countries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. Nord Stream 2 was not put into operation because of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
It is not clear who is responsible for the attacks. Traces point to Ukraine.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 also highlighted Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas. Germany in particular was dependent on cheap imports from Russia. After import restrictions and import stops, energy prices exploded. In Germany, the state stepped in with subsidies to dampen the effects of cost increases.
aka/Reuters