The sponsor of the blowing up of the Russian gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 was a citizen of Ukraine who is not connected to the government of Volodymyr Zelenskyi. The British publication The Times writes about it.
The newspaper notes that the organization of sabotage was a private initiative of a Ukrainian. At his own expense, he paid for the charter of a yacht, the hiring of elite divers, forged passports and the purchase of cumulative charges of explosives available only to the oil and gas industry.
The Times draws attention to the fact that the special services of Western countries know a Ukrainian who is allegedly behind the organization of the explosion. His name was not disclosed in order not to provoke a conflict between Ukraine and Germany amid negotiations on the supply of arms to Kyiv.
Yesterday and today, several Western media outlets published reports of sabotage on the Nord Streams. Citing American officials, The New York Times reported that some pro-Ukrainian group was involved in the bombings. According to Die Zeit, the yacht from which the pipes were most likely blown up belonged to a company owned by two Ukrainians.
Later, The Washington Post, with references to European and US intelligence, wrote that a pro-Ukrainian group, which operates without Kyiv's knowledge, was involved in the bombings. At the same time, the interlocutors of the publication specified that the special services still do not have evidence that would connect a specific country with the detonation.
The Ukrainian authorities have denied involvement in the organization of sabotage. The press secretary of the Kremlin, Dmytro Peskov, called the publications in the press a coordinated dumping.
At the end of September 2022, three out of four strands of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were damaged, one of the Nord Stream 2 pipes remained intact. This gas pipeline was not put into operation: in connection with Russia's attack on Ukraine, sanctions were imposed on it. "North Stream - 1" was the main pipeline for the supply of Russian gas to Germany, from where it was further distributed to the countries of the European Union.
Investigations by Sweden, Denmark and Germany have shown that the gas pipelines were blown up, but the culprits are still being identified. The authorities of the United States, Great Britain and the European Union declared about targeted sabotage. The Russian authorities believe that the USA and its allies are interested in the accident.