Swedish investigators have completed an investigation of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines and say their investigation “has strengthened the suspicions of gross sabotage.”
The Swedish Security Service says they began the investigation last weekend with assistance from the Swedish Coast Guard, Armed Forces, and Police.
Officials have determined that “detonations” were responsible for the “extensive damage to the gas pipelines.”
Investigators say during the course of the investigation, they seized material, which they will process and analyze to potentially assign responsibility for the attack and bring a formal complaint. Officials did not specify what the evidence is that was confiscated.
When explosions caused leaks the pipelines, seismic monitoring stations in three countries registered as high as 2.3 on the Richter scale.
“There’s no doubt this is not an earthquake,” Njorn Lund, director of the Swedish National Seismic Network, said immediately after the attack, according to the New York Post.
The completion of the investigation by Swedish authorities now confirms that the pipeline was sabotaged.
Almost immediately following the explosions, finger pointing began with nations accusing one another for the attack, as no one took the blame.
Some said it was self-sabotage by Moscow. Those claims were immediately disputed by Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who called the theory “predictable and predictably stupid.”
“This is a big problem for us because, firstly, both lines of Nord Stream 2 are filled with gas — the entire system is ready to pump gas and the gas is very expensive… Now the gas is flying off into the air,” Peskov added. “Are we interested in that? No, we are not, we have lost a route for gas supplies to Europe.”
Others suspected the U.S. was behind the attacks, pointing out that on multiple occasions, U.S. officials — including President Joe Biden — publicly vowed to “end” Nord Stream 2.
Swedish defense officials said now that the investigation is complete, the blockade around the pipelines near Sweden will be lifted.
They also said they will be monitoring any new developments.
