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A decision is pending in the Nord Stream investigation in Sweden
February 5, 2024, 6:50 p.m
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The sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines remains unclear. In addition to the investigations in Germany, a trial is also underway in Sweden. The responsible public prosecutor plans to make a decision on the further course of action this week.
The still unresolved case surrounding the sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea pipelines is likely to see some movement soon, at least from the Swedish side. The Swedish public prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Mats Ljungqvist, told the newspaper Expressen that he wanted to make a decision on the matter in the coming days.
He couldn’t say yet whether it would be Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, but a decision was imminent, he was quoted as saying by the paper. When asked, the Swedish public prosecutor’s office said that a decision was expected within the next few days and that it only affected the Swedish investigation. Lungqvist left details open. It is therefore unclear whether, for example, he will decide to stop the investigation, bring charges or issue a possible international arrest warrant against suspects.
On September 26, 2022, several explosions were registered near the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm and a little later four leaks were discovered in three of the four lines of the Nord Stream pipelines. Investigations were then started in Sweden, as well as in Germany and Denmark. In November 2022, Ljungqvist confirmed the suspicion that had been harbored from the beginning that it was sabotage. Analyzes showed explosive residues on several foreign bodies, he explained.
In a joint letter to the UN Security Council in the summer of 2023, the UN embassies of Germany, Denmark and Sweden wrote that investigators had discovered traces of explosives on a suspicious sailing yacht. There is a suspicion that this was used to transport the explosives used in the sabotage, it said in the letter, which also emphasized: “At this point in time, it is not possible to reliably determine the identity of the perpetrators and their motives clarify, particularly with regard to the question of whether the incident was controlled by a state or a state actor.”