At least six explosive devices were placed on four lines of Nord Stream, German newspaper Welt reported, citing sonar images and previously unpublished documents from a lawsuit between pipeline operator Nord Stream AG and insurers obtained by the publication.
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According to Welt, the saboteurs placed at least six bombs on a total of four threads connecting Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2,” the publication writes.
Nord Stream 2 is an export gas pipeline from Russia to Europe through the Baltic Sea, the capacity of two lines is 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Construction of the gas pipeline was completed in September 2021, but it was never put into operation. A year later - in September 2022 - as a result of explosions, one of the lines of Nord Stream 2 and both lines of the parallel export Nord Stream were destroyed.
American journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh, published his investigation in February 2023, in which, citing a source, he stated that explosive devices under Russian gas pipelines were planted in June 2022 under the cover of the Baltops exercise by US Navy divers with the support of Norwegian specialists. According to Hersh, the decision on the operation was made by US President Joe Biden following nine months of discussions with administration officials involved in national security issues.