German, Polish intelligence share new insights on Nord Stream 2 blast

Oleksandr Kovalenko, journalist and military observer, writes about it.

In 2022, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was blown up, with Ukraine initially blamed by some Western media, raising questions about the impartiality of these claims.

“Then a large-scale campaign was launched to discredit Ukraine, labeling it as a mastermind behind a state-sponsored act of terror committed in European waters,” he writes.

However, recent comments from Gerhard Schindler, former president of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service, challenge this narrative. Speaking to Die Welt, Schindler stated, "The results of the investigation may lead to a Ukrainian group. But this does not mean that Ukraine was the customer. From an intelligence point of view, a lot talks about the Russians operating under a false flag. They are capable of this."

Interestingly, Russian media have quoted Schindler but conveniently omitted his comments about a potential false flag operation by Russian intelligence. 

The explosion in 2022 is seen by some analysts as an act of desperation by Russia. At that time, Russian forces faced significant setbacks in Ukraine, losing ground in the Kharkiv region and preparing for a retreat from the Kherson region. The Kremlin might have believed that disrupting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would halt Western aid to Ukraine by discrediting the country among its European partners. The aim was to exploit fears of a winter without Russian gas to create pressure.

However, despite damaging the pipeline, the broader mission to undermine Ukraine's support failed. The incident highlighted Russia's unreliability as a business partner, showing that infrastructure projects involving Russia could be jeopardized by their shifting political agendas, Kovalenko notes.