Russian Vessels Photographed at Nord Stream Site Days
Before Blast
![](images/images_05_04_2023/pic1_REV.jpg)
Denmark’s military said it photographed a number
of Russian vessels near the blast site of the
Nord Stream pipeline sabotage days before the explosions took
place.
Russian maritime activity isn’t unusual in the
Baltic Sea, where the explosions that took the natural-gas pipelines
out of commission last year. A senior European official familiar with the
investigation into the explosions said the movements of the
Russian vessels have long been known to investigators and have been
dismissed as unlikely to be connected with the attack.
Still, evidence of the Russian ships
so close to the site of the blasts and
just days before the explosions has caused a fresh stir around one
of the most closely guarded investigations into who
is responsible for the attacks.
On Sept. 26, a series of underwater explosions tore apart three of
the four main Nord Stream pipes, which are built to carry natural
gas from Russia to Germany. The blasts were powerful enough to
register with seismologic measuring stations. Russia and Western
governments agreed the blasts were sabotage.
Four days earlier, on Sept. 22, a Danish naval
patrol vessel, P524 Nymfen, took 112 photographs of several Russian
vessels near the blast site, the Danish Defence Command said in a
response to a freedom of information request from The Wall Street
Journal.
The command declined to release the photographs
because of what it said was their intelligence value. It added,
following another freedom of information request, that 26 of the
photographs were of a Russian vessel designated as SS-750, which can
be equipped with a small submarine.
The existence of the 112 photographs was earlier
reported by Information, a Danish daily.
Following the pipeline sabotage, initial
suspicions in many European capitals focused on Russia, which denied
any involvement. U.S. officials are investigating the possibility that
a pro-Ukrainian
group was responsible for the attack, the Journal previously
reported.
![](images/images_05_04_2023/im-775132%20(1)%20copy.jpg)
Gas leaked into the Baltic Sea in September after
explosions tore apart the Nord Stream pipeline. PHOTO: SWEDISH
COAST GUARD/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Investigators in Germany have focused on the
possible role of a sailing yacht called Andromeda and its six
passengers, some of whom had Ukrainian passports, according to German
officials briefed on the probe.
Some analysts have expressed skepticism that a
sailing yacht could have played a key role in such an act of
sabotage—involving several explosions at an underwater depth of 260
feet. The photos of the Russian ship have provided fuel for
alternative theories.
The chance that the Russian vessel captured in
the photo was near the blast site without being involved in the
explosion four days later, “is infinitely small,” said Jens Wenzel
Kristoffersen, a commander at the Danish navy and an analyst at the
University of Copenhagen.
“I don’t have a smoking gun,” he said. “But in my
opinion, there is no doubt as to who was behind it.”
Russia’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that
allegations that it was involved in the Nord Stream sabotage were
“part of the Western misinformation campaign to ensure that those who
ordered and perpetrated this act of international terrorism are never
identified.”
Four Nordic public broadcasters have reported
that at least three Russian ships able to perform underwater
operations were present near the blast sites between June and
September last year.
The ships included the Russian naval research
vessel Sibiriakov, the tugboat SB-123 and a third, unidentified
vessel, according to the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. The vessels
sailed with their position transmitters turned off, but their
movements were tracked using intercepted radio communications sent to
Russian naval bases.
Write to Sune Engel Rasmussen at sune.rasmussen@wsj.com
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