Swedish prosecutor: ‘Gross sabotage’ caused Nord Stream explosions

The explosions that triggered vital harm to the Nord Stream pipelines close to the Danish island of Bornholm in late September had been the results of “gross sabotage,” Swedish prosecutors confirmed.

“Analyses which have now been carried out present traces of explosives on a number of of the international objects that had been discovered,” public prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, who’s answerable for the continued preliminary investigation into the explosions, mentioned in a press release Friday.

There are not any indications of who’s accountable for the incident at the moment, and the investigation is ongoing.

“The preliminary investigation may be very complicated and in depth. The continued preliminary investigation should present whether or not anybody might be served with suspicion of against the law,” the assertion mentioned.

Swedish investigators will proceed to cooperate with home authorities and different nations. The prosecutor’s workplace has requested for persistence.

“It is vital that we will work in peace and quiet,” Ljungqvist mentioned, including he couldn’t present additional data and wouldn’t be obtainable to the press.

On 27 September, undersea blasts ruptured each the Nord Stream 1 and a pair of pipelines, main to very large methane leaks. 

Though allegations of potential sabotage have circulated for the reason that incident, this marks the primary time a deliberate act to trigger harm to the pipeline has been confirmed.