(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] These bubbles in the Baltic Sea
flared up after explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipeline
since September, 2022.
The incident prompted several international investigations.
Western officials initially accused Russia of sabotage
while Moscow denied this.
Now more details of the probes are starting to emerge.
- The German prosecutor announced
that they had searched a rental yacht
that was possibly linked to the attack on the pipelines.
- [Narrator] They also said a pro-Ukrainian group
may have been responsible,
but Ukrainian officials denied any involvement.
So here's what we know so far about the explosions
that hit some of Europe's most important pipelines.
The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines
were built to transfer gas from Russia to Europe.
A Russian gas giant, Gazprom,
stopped deliveries through Nord Stream in August, 2022
saying the pipes needed repairs.
Nord Stream 2 was built, but wasn't up and running yet
because Germany stopped its certification
just before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Then in September, 2022,
the pipelines were damaged in explosions.
Germany, Sweden, and Denmark,
the three countries closest to the incident,
launched separate investigations into the cause.
Early findings said the blasts were deliberate
and caused leaks in four places,
and the investigations looked at the possibility
of Russia as the instigator.
Moscow has repeatedly denied any involvement.
In early March,
German prosecutors said that two months earlier
investigators searched a yacht
and found traces of explosives on board.
- We managed to locate it in the north of Germany.
It's a very beautiful, white, sleek leisure boat
that has five cabins and can comfortably sleep 11 people.
- [Narrator] Investigators believe the vessel set sail
from a port in northern Germany on September 6th.
- Around September the 7th, it made a pit stop in Wiek
on the island of Rugen, also in northern Germany.
There, I think, part of the crew came on board
and they loaded the boat with food and other provisions.
And then from then there's a bit of a gap.
And then the boat reemerges on the 16th of September
on the Danish island of Christianso,
which is close to the area
where the Nord Stream pipelines were attacked.
- [Narrator] German officials said a group of people
rented the boat.
Some of them presented Ukrainian passports
that may have been forged.
(speaking German)
- [Bojan] What we don't know, however,
is who these people were,
what is exactly their relationship to Ukraine,
if they were Ukrainians,
and whether or not they have any relationship
to the Ukrainian government or any kind of formal authority.
- [Narrator] Ukrainian officials denied any involvement.
- That's totally against our own interest.
- Russia's president had accused
what he called Anglo-Saxon powers
of blowing up the pipelines,
and the Kremlin said Western nations
rejected its request to join their investigations.
- One thing that we know for a fact
that these investigators do not believe anymore
that Russia was behind it.
- [Narrator] German investigators are also looking at
whether the boat was part of a larger mission
or a false flag operation
designed to divert attention from the real culprits.
- We'll see where this leads, but at the present time,
it doesn't seem we have more clarity.
It seems we have even more layers of obscurity and mystery
adding to this kind of huge puzzle.
- [Narrator] The leaks highlighted concerns about the safety
of critical energy infrastructure in Europe.
- It demonstrates the importance
of protecting our critical undersea infrastructure.
- [Narrator] As for the damaged pipes,
there's no indication that they'll be repaired anytime soon.