German investigators suspect ex-Ukrainian soldier involved in Nord Stream blasts: Report

By Anadolu staff

BERLIN (AA) - German authorities are investigating whether a Ukrainian man, with possible links to the military, was involved in last year's Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, media reported on Monday.

According to public broadcasters NDR and WDR, German investigators have identified a Ukrainian man in his mid-20s, who is suspected of traveling to the country last year to carry out the attacks on the Russia-Europe undersea gas pipelines.

The suspect is believed to be among the six people who traveled in September 2022 to the northern German city of Rostock, rented a yacht using false passports, and laid explosives on the Nord Stream pipeline running under the Baltic Sea.

He used a false Romanian passport in the name of Stefan M., German police sources told the media, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to the initial findings, he had earlier served in an infantry unit of the Ukrainian military, and was residing in a town southeast of Kyiv.

The public broadcasters reported that the investigations were still ongoing, and the prosecutors were not ruling out that the sabotage could be a “false flag” operation staged by Russia, and perpetrators could have left false evidence behind to put the blame on Ukraine.

Ukraine has repeatedly denied any involvement, and the German government earlier warned against “hasty conclusions” over the blasts.

The Danish government claimed last month that defense patrols spotted Russian vessels days before the pipeline explosion.

Russia earlier called for an international UN-led inquiry into the sabotage, but the request was not supported by the Security Council.