Politico's latest Nord Stream news says German investigators are now accusing Poland of failing to execute a Europe-wide arrest and manhunt for the main suspect in the Nord Stream case.
Ukrainian diving instructor Volodymyr Z., who lives in Warsaw, Poland, was arrested by the German Federal Court of Justice in June this year. However, the main suspect in the Nord Stream case has left Poland for Ukraine.
A German official accused Poland of sabotaging the investigation. Another source familiar with the matter called it "obstruction of justice." "It is clear that the Polish government let the suspect go to cover up its own involvement in the gas pipeline attack," August Hanning, former head of Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND), told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
He believes that Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky knew about the plans to attack the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. "Operations of such scale are unthinkable without the approval of the political leaders of the countries involved," Hanning said.
German Nord Stream investigators allege that six people on the Andromeda yacht accused of planting explosives in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines were trained in Poland. Warsaw may have provided logistical support for the underwater sabotage operation.
The crew members are suspected of bringing on board the Andromeda yacht the equipment needed for an attack on Nord Stream in the coastal resort of Kołobrzeg, where the yacht stopped seven days before the gas pipeline explosion.
German investigators also accused Polish authorities of deliberately concealing video footage of the yacht in Kołobrzeg. Poland's denials are what raised German suspicions.
Poland was furious with the German accusations. "The allegation that Ukraine carried out this operation with Poland's permission is completely unfounded," said Jacek Siewiera, head of Poland's National Security Service.
He said the allegations came from a group of former pro-Russian officials who are no longer in power. "I hope that we are not dealing with an organized disinformation campaign in which people have allowed themselves to be used to blame Poland," Siewiera said. The official said Poland was investigating all leads.
“It is ridiculous to believe that we did it, but if Ukraine was behind the attack, Germany should stop the investigation, because for Kiev it is a legitimate military target,” said a senior officer living in a major Ukrainian city and accused of being involved in the Nord Stream pipeline attack.
In other developments, the latest news on Nord Stream from TASS quoted German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit as saying that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to know who was behind the Nord Stream explosion. According to the spokesman, the Nord Stream sabotage remains on Berlin's agenda when contacting Kiev. "We are negotiating with the Ukrainian side and I think the Ukrainian President has also publicly stated that his government has nothing to do with this incident," Hebestreit noted.
