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New traces in the investigation into the sabotage of the two Nord Stream gas pipelines, connecting Russia with Germany, lead to Ukraine, the French press reported, citing the German newspaper Der Spiegel.

Police investigations are focusing in particular on the yacht Andromeda, which is believed to have served to transport the explosives used for the September 2022 sabotage in the Baltic Sea.

Metadata from an email sent at the time of renting the yacht led to Ukraine, according to Der Spiegel. The weekly also reported that traces of an explosive were found on the yacht, an octogen that was very common in both the West and the former Eastern Bloc.

On September 26, 2022, four huge gas leaks, preceded by underwater explosions, were recorded in pipelines supplying a substantial portion of Russian natural gas to Europe. Suspicions quickly arose that it was an attack. They have given rise to all sorts of speculation and hypotheses about who are the perpetrators of this logistically complex operation, which is also hypersensitive in diplomatic terms.

Nearly six months after the blasts that hit the two pipelines, responsibility for the submarine attack remains a mystery, despite criminal investigations conducted in the countries of the region - Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

According to one version, the aforementioned yacht departed from Rostock, a port in northern Germany, on September 6 with a crew of 6 people on board, including divers and a doctor.

Earlier this week, other German media, members of an international investigative consortium, examined how the vessel was chartered, with the hiring carried out by a Polish company that was actually held by Ukrainians.

New discoveries about the Nord Stream explosion

Investigators are also examining a trail "in Ukrainian military circles," according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, RND and Ve Dár. One of the passengers on the yacht, who had a Romanian passport, turned out to be a Ukrainian citizen who had served in an infantry unit in the past, media reported.

All these clues coincide with the assessments of several intelligence services, according to which the authors of the sabotage should be sought in Ukraine.

"The question arises whether this act was carried out by a commando squad that was not controlled or by the Ukrainian secret service, and to what extent some elements of the Ukrainian government apparatus were in the loop," the newspaper said.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, these strategic infrastructure projects have been at the center of geopolitical tensions stoked by Moscow's decision to cut off gas supplies to Europe as an alleged response to Western sanctions imposed on Russia.

Nord Stream

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