It was previously believed that the attack on the key pipelines involved four explosives
At least six bombs were used to cripple the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, with all four of its lines being mined, German newspaper Die Welt has claimed, citing court papers.
The pipelines, built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe, were destroyed by blasts at the bottom of the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
It was previously believed that the sabotage involved four explosive devices, the outlet noted in an article on Tuesday. However, Die Welt said its journalists had reviewed documents from the court case between the pipelines’ operator, Nord Stream AG, and insurance companies, which suggest that there were at least six bombs.
According to the paper, two additional damage sites have recently been found on the pipelines. They were not previously noticed because there were no gas leaks from them, it claimed.
One of the damage sites was photographed by Swedish engineer Erik Andersen, who was investigating the explosions, the article said. One of the pictures reportedly captured traces of a blast on one of the lines of Nord Stream 2.
“There was very small damage, barely noticeable at first glance – a piece of concrete flaking off. But this spot also shows that an explosive device had obviously been placed there, probably incorrectly, so it was unable to cause any major damage,” the author of the piece, Ulrich Kraetzer, suggested on Die Welt TV.
Kraetzer also said there was an allegation that Russia may have been behind the destruction of the infrastructure, based on the fact that one of the four pipelines remained intact after the attack. Those behind the claims have reportedly argued that Russia refrained from placing explosives on one pipeline in order to be able to continue selling at least some of its gas to Europe.
“According to what we know, it [the fourth line] was supposed to have been destroyed too, and this makes the theory that Russia might have deliberately left the pipeline intact invalid,” Kraetzer stated.
Moscow has repeatedly said that any claims that it would blow up its own pipeline make no sense.
On Tuesday, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, said that his agency had information about the “direct involvement” of professionals from the US and British special services in the Nord Stream sabotage. Russia built the pipelines “together with constructively minded Europeans, and the Anglo-Americans blew it up,” Naryshkin alleged.
